I thought I was dating 'Keanu Reeves' & he persuaded me to run for ...
A WIDOW has told how she was scammed out of thousands of dollars worth of Bitcoin by a fake Keanu Reeves who even encouraged her to run for president.
Joan Farr, from Derby, Kansas, told Fabulous how she first attempted to contact the actor as she was dreading going to her school reunion alone – and even though it was a long shot, she thought she would contact Keanu's team to see if he would be her date for the event.
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Joan, who has been widowed for 17 years, told Fabulous: “I had been dating my old boyfriend from high school, and we broke up, and it was taking me so long to get over him.
“So it was in January of this year and I thought to myself, the only way I'm gonna get over him is find someone else.
“But I wasn't really looking. I just wanted a hot date for my my fiftieth class reunion coming up.
“And so I thought, ‘Okay, what are the qualities I like? I thought, he has to be kind and gentle, and humble, honest, honorable, and the only person I could think of was Keanu Reeves.
“And so I thought, ‘Okay, you know, some he likes to interact with fans’. So I thought, ‘I'll write him and and see if he'll go with me’. And that's when it started in January.”
Joan tried to contact Keanu through his website and then via an email address she found online.
To her surprise, she received an email back from “Keanu” who agreed to go to her school reunion with her and they began an online relationship.
“At first I asked if he would charge me, since I was saving for a car but this was more important,” she said.
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“Being a widow on Social Security, I still knew I would have to pay something to have the pleasure of his company if even for a few hours.
“So I was stunned when he said no, but also very relieved. However, I wanted to show my appreciation somehow, so I asked him if I could donate to his children’s charity.
“He was pleased with this idea and then began to instruct me on how to purchase Bitcoin which was their preferred method to send money.
“I knew it wasn’t traceable and felt uncomfortable, but he assured me that I would receive a statement of all my contributions at the end of the year.”
'PERFECT GENTLEMAN'Joan says “Keanu” acted as a “perfect gentleman” towards her and there were no “sexual overtones” to their relationship.
She said they talked about building a house together some day – and he said he had bought her a gift.
“I was falling and fast,” she said.
“Later on, he told me that he wasn’t planning to just come for my reunion, he wanted to stay three days and maybe longer.
“Of course, I was elated but quietly not telling anyone and just trying to prepare.
“I asked him what kind of coffee he liked and he told me he liked his coffee beans soaked beforehand. I never drank coffee, so I bought a coffee maker and grinder, along with expensive coffee beans that I put in my freezer.
“I also thought he might be vegan, so I tried to learn how to cook vegan food. This was a disaster since cooking is really not my forte, but it was fun trying. There was also the unending effort to try and look as good as I could.”
Joan was sending $25 (£19.80) a week and a lump sum of $500 (£396) the first of each month, even though she could barely afford it.
SECRET DIVORCE CLAIMThe fake Keanu then claimed he was actually going through a secret divorce and all his assets had been frozen.
“Because of this, his security team required logistics fees to check everything out before he came to visit me," Joan said.
“At first, he told me the fees were $23,400 (£18,530) , and I said that someone must be ‘blowing smoke up his tailpipe’.
“Nothing happens out here in Kansas, there was nothing to fear, no worries.
“Later on, he said his team met again and it was now down to $6,700 (£5,305).”
PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNDuring their online relationship, Joan said that the scammer kept encouraging her to run for president.
He offered his support and told her he would be a ambassador of foreign relations to keep the US out of a war with Russia and China.
Joan agreed to pay the money for “Keanu’s” security team if he could find some people to donate to her campaign.
She was thrilled when he promised to endorse her and support her campaign with $500,000 (£395,925).
Joan looked at the tour dates for Keanu’s band – and it appeared that the schedule fitted around her school reunion, which further convinced her she was speaking to the real Keanu.
BITCOIN SCAM“Everything was going along as planned, until early September when he dropped a bomb on me,” Joan said.
“He said his security team had to have the $6,700 (£5,305) sent by Bitcoin before his arrival.
“I thought this issue had been resolved somehow, since he hadn’t mentioned it in months, and I panicked trying to come up with it.
“I ended up charging $2,900 (£2,296) on my charge card (credit card) which was my limit, and my son hesitantly let me borrow $3,600 (£2,850) on his HELOC (an equity based loan) that I had helped him take out last year.
“But when I desperately tried to send the money by Cashapp on my phone, it was repeatedly blocked.
“He told me to go down and use the Bitcoin machine in town, and then the wallet address he’d given me came up flagged.
NO MEETING“They gave me a number to call and I was told that it was likely a scammer. I couldn’t send the money and Keanu didn’t come for my reunion.
“However, he kept emailing and told me he could still come visit at a later date if I could get the money to go through.
"By now I was really skeptical that it was truly him, but I wanted to see if it would finally come to fruition.”
Joan sent the $6,700 (£5,305) in three separate Bitcoin attempts through Cashapp – but was then told the fee had increased and she needed to send even more money before the visit could take place.
Broke and with only 80 cents (63p) in her account, Joan was worried how she would even be able to afford her taxes.
ON THE ROADIn at last ditch attempt to meet Keanu she even went to see his band in Lawrence, Kansas, in September, after the scammer promised to meet her there.
"I went to the concert and I'm looking all over for him, I was saying, 'I'm right here in front of the sound booth'but he said he couldn't see me," she said.
"I was in constant contact with his supposed manager but of course, I never meet up with him.
"I was so dejected, I just left.
"I came back and I stood at the door of the bus that he gets on after they've done his concert, and everything's loaded.
"I waited two and a half hours.
"It was 12:30am and I was right by the door of the bus. When he came out I had a card I was trying to hand him.
"I was begging him 'please, please take it' and and he looked at me like he wanted to take it.
"But then there were other people that were trying to get autographs as well, so maybe he didn't want to offend them, and so he didn't take it."
Joan finally realised she had been the victim of a scam the next day.
“I felt like God gave me my answer on Wednesday morning, September 27," she said.
“I always look at Instagram for Bible verses and encouragement, and a random post came up: ‘Romeo got Juliet, Jack got Rose, and you, you got played.’
“It was then that I knew the truth.”
Joan pulled out of her presidential campaign and is currently trying to get in touch with Keanu’s management to stop other people from being scammed in the actor’s name.
RELENTLESS SCAMMERSHowever, she was even scammed when she tried to get in touch with lawyers claiming to be acting for Keanu, who asked her to pay fees up front.
Altogether Joan has lost a total of $11,200 (£8,879) and has had to put her home up for sale.
“It’s been a rollercoaster. I’ve always been good at juggling finances and that's what I've had to do," she said.
“I was donating to nine charities, and I had cut back on all of those so that I could donate to the fake Keanu.
“I've been charging food and gas for so long, expecting him to come.
SPARSE CHRISTMAS“We're going to have a sparse Christmas, I can tell you that.”
She added: “If I could ever get a message to Keanu Reeves, I just want to have a meeting, and I know we can resolve this, and I know it can help him going forward to keep the scamming from happening any further.”
The Sun reached out to a representative for Keanu for comment.
Meanwhile, a mum-of-two has told how she was scammed out of thousands by a fake Lewis Capaldi.
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