The Josh Innes Show - Woman Scammed By Fake Celebrity

Episode Date: April 30, 2025

Are people who get scammed by fake celebrities arrogant or stupid? This is the question I ask anytime I see a story about some woman who thinks she's in an online relationship with a celebrity. That said, this one is a doozy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So we often ask the question, are people arrogant or are they stupid? That's kind of a question that gets asked a lot when talking about scams, people getting scammed. Now, sometimes people just get scammed because they're easily fooled by an email that looks like it came from the IRS or looks like it came from your bank and you get worried and you click on it or you get a text message that says, hey, we have your license plate because you ran through a toll. And even though you know you've never been to a place with a toll, you've convinced yourself you have and you click on it and people steal your shit, right? Some people just get scammed, right? That's why I refuse to click on anything. If I get a text message and the text message says anything about click this because we

have this, I'm like, no, I'll pass and I'll just take the chance. And maybe one day it'll backfire. Maybe one day that will be a bad idea. But anytime it says like, hey, the such and such toll road says that you did blank. I'm like, the fuck it did. I haven't driven through a toll in 10 fucking years. So I know that this is false and I'm not going to do it and I will not click on it. You'll get shit from your bank and you're like, wow, this looks really official. Don't click on it. Call your fucking bank. Google like, like when you see shit

and you hear that people get scammed, you're like, you should do everything possible. First of all, rule number one of your phone to avoid getting scammed. Do not answer any number you do not recognize. Now, you might say, well, what if I'm waiting for like a job or something? Then more likely than not, the name will pop up on there. More likely than not, a name will show up, like might be such and such, or it'll show a business or something. But if it's not someone you think you might be expecting a call from, or you don't recognize the number, don't pick up the phone. This isn't difficult. And never under any circumstance, click a link in a text. When I was doing radio jobs,

they all like to send out these phishing emails to see if they can get you to take the bait, right? That's kind of their big thing is they'll send out a phishing email and it'll say like something that seems like it could be legit because it seems like it might be from inside the building or somebody in the office. And it'll be like, hey, but you got to do blank and blank. Click this about pay or something. Never click it. They're trying to bait you into doing that so they can say, hi, you took the bait. You want to be the person that when they send out the email that says, did you take the bait? You don't want to be one of the dipshits that did take the

bait, right? I never click on anything. I never fucking answer the phone. I never call back and hopefully I will never get full on scammed. Now those are scams that are understandable that you might be able to fall for. Like I can see where someone gets an email and it looks super official and you don't take the time to go click on the email that sent it to you to see that, oh, there's like a bunch of random numbers and shit in it so it's not real. A lot of people aren't going to do that. Older people aren't going to do that. I get that.

Those are understandable results. It is understandable that you might get scammed in that scenario. Where it is not understandable is when you get scammed by a celebrity. I've got a story for you that is spectacular, and we will do that after we play a couple commercials. All right, if you're ready to win some real cash during the basketball playoffs, you've got to check out Pick 6 from DraftKings. When it comes to basketball payouts, DraftKings Pick 6 posterizes the competition, including prize picks. It's a very simple concept. Hit all your picks and score higher minimum payouts on Pick 6, plus even more cash if you outscore the competition. Pick six is available in most states, including Missouri, California, Texas, Georgia, and more.

And I absolutely love it. Look, every night we're going to be having playoff basketball every night. So when you're sitting around and you might not have interest in a particular game, let's say you're a fan of a particular team. They're not playing that night. Here's how you make it a little bit more fun for the other games. Build a little lineup there with Pick 6. It's really great. Me and my wife do it all the time, so make sure you do it. And new players get 50

in Pick 6 credits instantly on just a $5 entry. Download the DraftKings Pick 6 app now and use code INNES, that's my name, I-N-N-E-SS for new customers to play. $5, get 50 in pick six credits, better payouts, bigger wins only with pick six from DraftKings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org in Connecticut. Must be 18 plus. Age and eligibility restrictions vary by jurisdiction. Pick six not available everywhere, including New York and Ontario.

Voidware prohibited. One per new customer. Bonus award. It is non-withdrawable pick six credits that expire in 14 days. Limited time offer. See terms at pick6.draftkings.com slash promos. All right, so this, I'm just gonna play the audio

from a television story about this. Now I'm gonna play it through my phone so it may sound like shit. I apologize. But my setup is quite rudimentary. So again, it's okay to get scammed or at least understandable to get scammed by like a bank email or something like that. I get it. Once you start getting into the scams of like, well, I just got a call from the cops and they need five grand in Home Depot

gift cards or my wife's going to be arrested. Then you should be like, okay, I'm a fucking moron if I fall for that. But anytime a celebrity is involved in the scam and you fall for it, you are 100% a pud. And here's this story. Well, a Bay Area woman is out tens of thousands of dollars after she says she sent money to a scammer who said he was celebrity Keanu Reeves.

Diane Ringstaff said she was playing words with friends when somebody messaged her saying he was the Hollywood actor. All right, hold on. So let's rewind a little bit here. So this woman was playing Words with Friends. And she gets a message from Keanu Reeves, star of The Matrix and John Wick and Parenthood. And she's like, oh, this seems legit. It makes total sense that Keanu Reeves would be playing words with friends. And he was the Hollywood actor.

They started chatting over the next two years. Diane said she saw Keanu's face during a few video chats. And then he sent her audio messages. Good morning, my sunshine, Diane. As you said last night, I am sending this recording to let you know that I cherish you and that I am loyal to you. You will always be my queen. Have a great day today, Diane. Love you. Kisses from your loving keanu keanu said i am okay first off technology is wild now we know technology is wild people can ai a face they can ai a voice you have to go into that thinking that diane now diane i've looked at the video of this diane is kind of an older chick, like a middle-aged chick, not attractive. She doesn't ask herself like, hey, why is Keanu Reeves, Hollywood star, rich beyond belief, why is Keanu Reeves having a two-year-long words with friends relationship with me?

Doesn't ask that question though sending this recording to let you know that i cherish you and that i am loyal to you you will always be my queen have a great day today diane love you kisses from your loving keanu keanu said he needed tens of thousands of dollars in bitcoin and cryptocurrency for help with legal troubles. Okay. So you believe that Keanu Reeves, star of Bill and Ted's bogus journey, needs you, Diane, to send him tens of thousand dollars in cryptocurrency to help him with legal fees. Knowing what I know now and all the technology that's out there

and fake voices and everything else, you know, ding, ding, ding. Jesus, Diane. And that's why we ask the question, are people stupid or are they just arrogant? Because I believe there has to be some level of arrogance that goes along with believing that keanu reeves loves you and you're his queen and that he needs your money for legal fees like did you google anything about keanu reeves and go like hey is he in legal trouble did you look up anything no all you're gonna see is that like these john wick movies make a billion fucking dollars and again are you arrogant or are you just stupid like i read a story when i was

still at casey about a woman and people who were being scammed by Joe Elliott, the lead singer of Def Leppard. Now I want you to think of the absurdity of that for a second, that you're sitting around and you're starting to get Facebook messages from Joe Elliott of Def Leppard. And at no point do you ask yourself, why the fuck is Joe Elliott from Def Leppard? Why is he messaging me? No, you go, wow, Joe Elliott from Def Leppard is on Facebook and he decides to message me to ask for $10,000. He must be in dire straits. I think people are again I feel bad when someone gets scammed by thinking like the bank reached out to them like that's understandable because you look at some of these emails that people send from the bank these scammers send and you're like holy shit that looked official and if you don't

really dig deep into that email you just kind of look at it on the surface and don't kind of click around a little bit. It's easy to get fooled by that. It is not easy to get fooled by the idea that a superstar box office icon like Keanu Reeves, star of Point Break, would be reaching out to you for cryptocurrency to help pay for legal trouble like did you ask him that like i want a full i want to interview this woman i want to interview diane and i want to be like so when when he first broaches the subject after you've been talking for two years when keanu is like hey by the way uh i'm in some legal trouble do you have any money that i can have diane like how was your first well your first thought should have been I'm done talking with Keanu Reeves now because this is not fucking Keanu Reeves. But your your first inclination, if that was not yours, should have been Keanu.

Why don't you have the money to pay your legal fees? John Wick, one, two, three, four. They all make like $500 billion at the box office. You were in the Matrix movies. How do you not have tens of thousands of dollars to pay legal fees? Really honest, got your first question out of all those have been like, wait, you're in love with me, Diane. But Diane didn't ask that because there's an arrogance about

diana she's playing words with friends that she's like keanu reeves loves me do you think she told other people do you think she like ran around town like she started telling her friends like at the salon she's getting a perm she's just sitting there and she's like well, you know something, Sally, I have an online boyfriend. How about that? And Sally is like, oh, do you now? Well, does Tim know? And she's like, no, and you're not going to tell Tim. But guess what?

I have a very important online boyfriend, big time celeb. How about that? And she's like, who is it? I can't tell you. But he's a big time celebrity. Well, okay, but can you give me a hint? I could. The hint is he's playing hardball.

Yeah, I still don't get the reference. Well, I feel pretty confident that our relationship is not bogus. Yeah, I still don't get the reference well i feel pretty confident that our relationship is not bogus yeah i still don't fucking like diane i don't fucking get it i'm a middle-aged white woman i don't get your movie references well let me tell you something if we don't end up married i really feel that strange things are afoot at the circle k i don't fucking get it just who is it it's keanu reeves and we're in love and she's like no you're not keanu reeves does not love you keanu reeves is a big time movie celebrity and he does not love you diane and she says oh he doesn't does he oh he doesn Well, would you like to hear what he said to me

in a very authentic, real voicemail message? Would you like to hear it? As you said last night, I am sending this recording to let you know that I cherish you and that I am loyal to you. You will always be my queen. Have a great day today, Diane. Love you.

Kisses from your loving Keanu. Keanu said he needed to be. Oh, tell me this, ma'am tell me this Tina do you think that that's fake no that is the star of a version of babes in toyland and he loves me but he needs my help because obviously he's fallen upon hard times. Now, a simple Google search. Now, when you look up celebrity net worths, those are not always accurate. Most people, when they read those, those are like, ha ha, that's not what I'm worth. But let's just, again, simple Google search, Keanu Reeves net worth, $380 million. Now, that's probably not true. I think a lot of these net worth things,

they just like look at the money you've made from your movies or whatever over the time. And they assume he doesn't have $380 million, probably, but he got enough. And now let's Google Keanu Reeves lawsuit. Let's see if anything pops up with a lawsuit. Well, there was a paternity suit brought by a woman named Karen Sala claiming he was the father of her four adult children. This was in 2009 and the case was dismissed. So, Diane, you didn't do any research. You were just arrogant enough to believe that Keanu Reeves, Keanu Reeves, star of speed, loves you and you're his queen and he needs you to send him crypto. I don't feel sorry for this woman. Perhaps we're supposed to.

Perhaps we're supposed to look at this and go, poor Diane. These scammers are just evil. First of all, I kind of commend them. They went to some great lengths. I mean, apparently she had a FaceTime with him. That's something. I'd like to know the logistics of that. I'm curious.

But the fact that this woman believes that Keanu Reeves was in love with her is the biggest thing. It's like whenever you look at Neil Diamond's Instagram, it says, Neil Diamond will never ask you for money. That means that someone has sent money to someone claiming to be Neil Diamond. Neil Diamond, who's worth gabillions of dollars. He wrote all of his hit songs. He's rich. He's got a Broadway musical. He's rich.

And you're thinking that Neil Diamond's like, Hello, Julianne. It's Neil Diamond. I need to borrow 10 grand in crypto. Come on. Yeah, like that's what you believe. You kind of deserve to get scammed at that point. Anyway, more to come.