{"id":29124,"date":"2025-09-18T06:10:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T06:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/29124\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T06:10:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T06:10:06","slug":"keanu-reeves-is-not-in-love-with-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/29124\/","title":{"rendered":"Keanu Reeves Is Not in Love With You"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like most women who spend too much time online, I get approached on social media by men who give off massive scammer red flags. I block, delete and move on. Author Becky Holmes decided to have some fun with them instead. The result was Keanu Reeves Is Not in Love With You: The Murky World of Online Romance Fraud<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But first, a word from our sponsor!<\/p>\n

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Scammers who target women tend to follow similar scripts. (The scripts are a little different for male victims, which may be the subject of the next book.) They usually claim to be widowed,\u00a0and either a soldier or an oil rig worker (jobs with a built-in excuse for any lapses in contact). They start with \u201clove bombing,\u201d a too-good-to-be-true online romance with promises to meet in person (but plans keep getting delayed). Then there\u2019s an \u201cemergency\u201d where the scammer needs a relatively small amount of money, maybe a few hundred, which for some reason must be delivered via crypto or gift cards. The emergencies and demands for money keep escalating for as long as the victim can be strung along.<\/p>\n

Some will even run a secondary scam where, once exposed, the scammer will claim \u201cI started out trying to cheat you, but I\u2019ve developed real feelings for you.\u201d Others have infiltrated Facebook support groups for scam victims, claiming to know someone who can get their money back \u2014\u00a0just send them a few bank details. Holmes includes resources for scam victims\u00a0in the UK.<\/p>\n

One scam variation is the celebrity imposter, who wants money for a \u201cprivate, unadvertised performance for superfans only,\u201d or for a charity (but the money has to be sent through him, for tax purposes). At one point, Holmes created a group chat for the five Keanu Reeveses who were following her. She also heard from scammers claiming to be Liam Neeson, Brad Pitt, Prince William and, inexplicably, Prince Andrew. (Holmes drily notes that she\u2019s a few decades too old for Andrew\u2019s reputed taste.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0Holmes enjoyed messing with the scammers, dropping comments like, \u201cCan I bring my sister when we meet? I\u2019ll have to release her from the tumble dryer, but she should be dry by then.\u201d She gave out addresses in imaginary towns with names like Knackered Sphincter.\u00a0She sent\u00a0 \u201cgift card codes\u201d like 5UCH 4 RU8815H 4TTEMPT or U 4R3NT V3RY G00D 4T TH15. She occasionally claimed to have flown to Los Angeles (or wherever the scammer claimed to be) so they could meet up for a quickie wedding. When nothing else got rid of them, she\u2019d claim to have just killed someone. (At least one scammer claimed he could connect her with someone who could get rid of the body \u2014\u00a0and would take payment in gift cards).<\/p>\n

On to Top Comments!<\/p>\n

Submitted anonymously:<\/p>\n

This long comment<\/a> from gkrevvv in Kos\u2019s diary The Widening Gender Divide is Fueling Far-Right Extremism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Top mojo, courtesy of mik:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Like most women who spend too much time online, I get approached on social media by men who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-29124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}