Posted on 01/02/2025 5:29:44 PM PST by nickcarraway
A 67-year-old woman warned the public about a romance fraud that took her life savings: scammers pretending to be Keanu Reeves.
67-year-old Katherine Goodson lost her husband in 2007 and told NBC San Diego she's been struggling with loneliness since.
She moved to San Diego in 2022 and soon received a text message from someone posing as A-list Hollywood actor Keanu Reeves, known for performances in "The Matrix," "Point Break," and "John Wick," among others.
After some chatting, the fraudster asked Goodson to send him a $500 gift card to prove that she wasn't just talking to him for his money.
"I did send it, but I said, 'I want to hear your voice,' and once I heard his voice I said, 'You're not him,' and I blocked him," Goodson told NBC San Diego.
Goodson spread her story online to warn others against the potential scam, but another ne'er-do-well swooped in and attempted to further take advantage of her.
Another person texted her claiming that he was the real Keanu Reeves and that he felt bad that she had been scammed by someone pretending to be him. He quickly moved into more romantic texts.
"He wanted to marry me," Goodson said. "I was lonely."
Over the course of two years Goodson talked to the Keanu Reeves impostor and a series of other phone numbers that claimed to be the actor's management team.
Once Goodson was out of money and couldn't send anything else to the scammers, they became hostile, and that's when she realized she'd been tricked.
"It was just a mess," she said. "It was mind-boggling to the point that I didn't know my head from anything."
"There is nothing that hasn't already been done to make me feel any worse," she said.
The scam took nearly everything from Goodson, who was forced to live in her car after the ordeal. She brought her story to the internet to try to warn others against falling for the fraudster's tricks.
How stupid can a person be???
Is that rhetorical question, or would you like an answer?
I give her credit for admitting it.
I can’t believe a person would be so dense that they wouldn’t mind telling the world how stupid they were....
“...she’s been struggling with loneliness since....”
She’s also struggling with ignorance.
I don’t think there is a correct answer to that question.
This woman was born without a brain. 🙄
Proverbs 14:1
The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.
“How stupid can a person be???”
How many vote democrat?
What a sad story.
She’s not too bright, either.
After I communicated a few more times with her, including by phone, she mailed me a "token of her appreciation", which was a nice necklace pendant with a Christian cross.
I was almost convinced. :O
I was just saying the same thing to my online GF Taylor Swift.
We have a potato giving away money we don’t have.
If you got to live in your car, San Diego is not that bad.
That gift probably came from another person being scammed. They will tell a person a relative is sick and would love a small gift. This creates a network of victims that creates a sense of legitimacy
When I tell Justin Beiber about this, he won’t be able to believe it. Well, I won’t be telling him in person as we have not been able to meet yet, but I will email him ... along with sending the small amount of urgent funds that he needs.
Stupid, and thinking pretty highly of herself.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.