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Comment by cowmix | Hacker News Reader

It is always shocking to me that someone with those kinds of resources can get duped like that -- with little checks and balances.

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From Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/r/UpliftingNews/comments/1i1uvjq/scam...

    French start up Find My Scammer carried out the investigation pro bono as the victim has literally no money left in her account, not even a cent.

    Victim had no experience whatsoever with social media before creating an Instagram account in 2023 to share holiday pictures.

    Victim was targeted after liking pictures related to Brad Pitt on Instagram.

    Victim was in the midst of a divorce before being contacted by scammer.

    Victim was groomed for months and months by scammer passing themselves as Pitt's mother, agent, etc, in addition to Pitt himself, using American phone numbers, fake articles, etc.

    Victim had no knowledge of technologies such as deepfake.

    Victim was lulled into a sense of security as grooming lasted for many months before she was asked to send money for the first time, thinking that such a scam would be more immediate.

    Victim has HIV and cancer, tried to end her life three times.

    French TV program which revealed the story accused of manipulating the subject matter and misrepresent facts to encourage ridicule against victim, has been pulled off all platforms.

    Scammer found in Benin, was tricked into clicking a link which gave start up full access to his computer, phone, information, living address, etc. Crypto wallet where the stolen money is stored found. All information in the hands of authorities investigating the crime.

    Scammer has over 30 victims. Also poses as fake Keanu Reeves.

An important point in the story: while she was contacted by the scammers when she was still married, it is after the divorce that she received most of the money that was eventually scammed - over €700k

> Crypto wallet where the stolen money is stored found. All information in the hands of authorities investigating the crime.

This is great news, and I hope Anne and the other victims can see at least some of their money returned.

Do such links really work so that it’s enough to load the page on your browser and you are done?

Depends. Mostly not. But Pegasus spy software was put on iPhones via silent SMS. So those targets didn't even need to click a link. All they really had to do was owning an iPhone. And made their number known.

My grandpa has a saying that translates to something: "The money bag never hangs in front of the same house for more than three generations".

This is just one of the reasons why.

Yep, the Chinese has exactly the same saying -- even the same number of generations.

I hope she gets some $$ back though.

Let's just ignore thousands of European noble families and wealthy industrial tycoon dynasties.

Any examples? I’m not really aware.

Just a google search away, but the most obvious, british, spanish, dutch royal families, Habsburgs, Thurn und Taxis, hundreds more, also from business life. This "wealth switches hands often" thing is a wise-sounding dumbness, wealth gets more and more concentrated in the world, and is usually only redistributed in event of war and conflicts.

Rothschild

"This" -- do you mean theft and abuse are the reasons why? Or debilitating illness (HIV/Cancer).

She was tricked. The money wasn't physically taken. She lost the money because, unlike she claims, she is indeed a moron.

It's not an uncommon expression on managing generational wealth. I've frequently encountered it as:

"The first generation makes it, the second generation spends it, and the third generation blows it."

In English we have "shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations".

They desperately need some comfort or excitement and the scammer provided it to her. Sad.

She didn't earn that money. The bigger scam was acted against the wealthy entrepreneur who saw a big chunk of his money going to his ex-wife.

Divorce laws are ridiculous, you are better off not getting married and using a surrogate mother.

To be fair there are different ways to get married in france and some contracts allow for separation of wealth, sort of

Love is blind.

In Spanish when somebody says love is blind, another will quickly add “and deaf and stupid/idiot“

Her daughter should have done more to safe her own inheritance. Like, if you safe 800K Dollar in convincing your mother she is not romanced by Brad Pitt, I would handle that as a full time job!

That said this is increasingly common and especially elder people can be easily scammed with AI.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/1df081i/my_mother_an...

> Reading through all of this, apparently lots of elderly people having "relationships" with celebrities. Adding my mother to the mix. She's been corresponding with "Elon Musk" for at least six months. She's not even that old, she's only 67...but extremely gullible.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/15sls1v/my_dad_think...

> My Dad thinks Elon Musk is texting him and has lost over $10K - Help!

I don’t know how we can deal with that in the future. Financial regulation to make it easier that people at risk have more banking safe guards and their children/spouses can supervise accounts better? Or hope it fixes itself when the 4Chan generation who grew up with Nigerian prince scams replaces boomers?

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