A representative for Brad Pitt has warned fans to be cautious of impersonation scams after a French woman lost her life savings to fraudsters posing as the Hollywood star.

The 53-year-old victim told France's TF1 channel she believed she was in a romantic relationship with Pitt, which led her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros ($850,000) to the scammers.

"It's awful that scammers take advantage of fans' strong connection with celebrities," a spokesperson for the "Fight Club" actor told Entertainment Weekly on Tuesday.

The spokesperson added it was "an important reminder to not respond to unsolicited online outreach, especially from actors who have no social media presence," such as Pitt.

The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as AI image-creating technology to send the woman what appeared to be selfies and messages from the Oscar-winning actor.

To extract money, they pretended that the 61-year-old actor needed funds to pay for kidney treatment, claiming his bank accounts were frozen due to divorce proceedings with ex-wife Angelina Jolie.

The woman, named only as Anne, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Pitt and only realized she had been scammed when news emerged of his real-life relationship with girlfriend Ines de Ramon.

After her interview went viral on Monday, she was subjected to online harassment, leading TF1 to withdraw the segment "for the protection of victims."

Some online critics accused TF1 of failing to protect a vulnerable individual who might not have fully understood the consequences of going public.

Romantic scams have been a feature of the internet since the advent of email, but experts say artificial intelligence has increased the risks of identity theft, hoaxes, and fraud online.

In September, Spanish police arrested five people accused of scamming two women out of €325,000 ($335,000) by posing as Pitt through online and WhatsApp messages. The suspects had made contact with the women via an internet page for his fans, authorities said.

Pitt made headlines last month when he and actress Angelina Jolie finalized a divorce settlement, marking a turning point in the eight-year legal saga. Once Hollywood's highest-profile couple, Jolie filed to dissolve their marriage in September 2016.