My Own Private Keanu — A Visit With Keanu Reeves Facebook Scammers
In this day & age our lives are broken up into two totally separate but related realms. Our real life and then there is that other place — the internet. The internet is a whole world in of itself. It’s a place where commerce commences, businesses buzz, people post and friendships brew. It’s also a place where criminals, stalkers & copycats lurk, products are stolen, identities are hijacked and livelihoods are left on the brink.
Fighting these people is a full time job. As an ecommerce business owner I spend plenty of time monitoring my own internet presence & livelihood for trouble. And I also get my fair share of Facebook stalker messages & have a pretty lengthy block list. The internet has come a long way, but in this day & age it is still sorely lacking.
Being a person who resides on the internet, it’s where my businesses live, it’s where the people I do business with also reside. I pretty much thought I had already seen it all over the years. And it looked like most of the chaos had finally been fairly well controlled. Alas, not.
It all began when I commented on some articles posted by well known political news channels. I am BIG into politics and occasionally voice my opinion.
I often keep Facebook open while I work. I was working one day and received an alert that Keanu Reeves had ‘liked’ one of my political comments.
I was a little surprised that a celebrity would be hanging out on Facebook responding to political posts, but all was well. Besides, handsome Keanu photos are ALWAYS welcome on my screen.
… Calm down girl & get back to work!
A few days later I am once again working and receive an invite to ‘like’ the Keanu Reeves Facebook fan page of the very Keanu that ‘liked’ my post, along with a photo of the handsome faced celebrity himself. Hmmmm …
The invitation included a message requesting that I follow his page. I don’t usually follow celebrity pages unless it is someone I know personally. I have a few famous friends that I correspond with both current & from a past life. Most of them are musicians and singers. Only one is an actress.
What the hell, I accept the invitation and hit ‘Like’ …and then, not too much later, all hell breaks loose. The scammers begin to pounce. Well only two.
The following day I am diligently toiling away and receive a Facebook message from none other than the internet’s favorite boyfriend himself, Keanu Reeves. What a surprise he wants to talk to ME — ME!
Imagine that! My initial reaction was complete skepticism. I scowled at the message, then started to drag my cursor over to the big “X” in the corner, then I paused.
Be still my heart — Boy is he cute!
I remember first seeing Keanu years ago in the Devil’s Advocate & saying “Wow who’s that?” — Very handsome. “That’s Keanu Reeves”, replies movie buff friend. “Keanu who?” Very young DeNiro -ish.
Okay, so WHY is Keanu Reeves chatting with nobody’s on Facebook? And WHY is he on my screen & WHY does he want to talk to me?
Is he lonely? Probably not.
Could he be very, very bored? I highly doubt it, especially being in the throes of doing not one, but two movies.
So why is he here ? And why on earth would he be trying to chat ME up?
Perhaps he wants to discuss politics?
My next quandary was do I even respond to this message? … or do I just flick him off to the abyss along with the other lost souls who had hoped to talk to me. Mostly men making passes.
Hmmm. So here I was looking down at this message welcoming me to the page he just asked me to join. What in the world does one talk about with Keanu Reeves anyway?
I haven’t the faintest.
It’s just a message after all. If it were in person I would probably die of sheer fright.
Now we all know this is NOT Keanu, but I decide to proceed.
After some small talk asking about location & profession. ( Fishing — How much money do I have? Am I a good hit? )
Fishing — Do I have a husband who adds $$$ to the bank accounts?
“Get in common”? Whatever does THAT mean?
But wait there’s more …
This is NOT over yet. That was just Keanu #1.
Yet another Keanu is ready to pounce.
A few days later I get this from Keanu #2 …
(In this thread, the page was removed by Facebook so the faces no longer show on the messages. Only the main photo appears. )
At this point I am wondering where it ends with these guys ..
Yes, I already know where you are from, what you wear, everything that you eat and who your girlfriend of the moment is. We know everything. The entire world knows everything.
Poor Keanu can’t expel CO2 without someone jumping out to snap a picture of it.
I jokingly ask for I.D. and this Keanu has no clue what I am talking about, is feigning ignorance or wondering how he’s going to show I.D. on the internet ...
And then this doozie ..
Gee, I didn’t know who Mark Zuckerberg was and yes, I am sure you and Mark are working VERY closely to take down your fake pages …
After some chat about how all of the women he meets are gold diggers, have wicked hearts and how he is looking for a good woman, yada-yada-yada, he is “happy to meet me” ..
Really? You want to meet me? From the sounds of your dialect I would beg to guess that you will have some traveling to do … Better start packing..
Keanu #2 tries to get me onto a Google Hangouts chat …. aka Crime Scene number 2.
Sorry, Keanu, NOT biting!
Nice try — But no can do Keanu. This Keanu is much more patient than the last. He waits a day or so and upon not hearing from me he decides to go in a little heavier using a different tactic and comes back with this:
Apparently not since you haven’t heard from me yet…
No, not really … Keeps pressing to download Hangout —
I am sure you spend the entire day at this scam .. Must be hard work . ;)
In Berlin ? Ok, but a quick look at my phone (Thanks now that I have Keanu Reeves popping up EVERYWHERE) and lo & behold there’s an article showing the real Keanu Reeves in Oklahoma City posing with fans.
Damn he gets around pretty fast! I underestimate his powers ..
Okay, so this guy is getting a little crazy at this point so I decide to end this little discussion, but you get the picture.
I don’t know how long they hang in before they start scamming for money, but it should have been pretty clear that I wasn’t biting.
This particular page no longer exists thus all pictures were removed. I still have access the message feed.
Many people have been scammed by these people. Some losing tens of thousands of dollars. I am sure it is a multi-million dollar scheme.
Bottom line, never, ever download another ‘app’ which can give an internet scammer access to your phone, which in turn gives access to your homes wi-fi and other devices.
In this day & age I am surprised to see that this activity continues, as even now there is not very much protection for consumers and the celebrities they take advantage of.
UPDATE —
I just discovered a secret Facebook ‘Spam’ folder and guess who’s in there?
You guessed right ! Yes, it’s none other than Keanu #3.
Yup, there he is hiding waaay down deep in the dungeons of my Facebook folders sandwiched between the guy from Egypt who wants to marry me and some other guy who thinks “I was specially made by God”.
He thought he’d escaped notice. Nope, you can’t hide Keanu!
I just can’t take anymore of this … He’s everywhere I tell ya.
Hopefully this is the end of this scammer saga. Maybe not.
As for you Keanu, you are more than welcome to grace my pages any time!
