Keanu Reeves might just be the nicest guy in Hollywood. This claim is supported by a new report that reveals the John Wick star pays out thousands of dollars each month to scrub the internet of fake profiles pretending to be him and protect fans from romance scammers.
Romance scams have been around since the dawn of the internet, but they’re rising in prevalence as AI and deep fake technology grows more sophisticated.
In the past year alone, a woman confessed to losing $850,000 to a scammer impersonating Brad Pitt, Virgin River star Martin Henderson became a target of Facebook impersonators, and a Twitch streamer was left temporarily homeless after being duped by a fake Pokimane.
According to an investigative report from The Hollywood Reporter, Reeves may be the most impersonated celebrity on the internet due to his lack of social media presence and nice guy persona. It turns out, Reeves himself is well aware of the issue.
Keanu Reeves pays thousands to stop romance scammers
The report reveals that Reeves pays “a few thousand dollars a month” to Loti, an AI company that specializes in protecting major celebrities, public figures, and corporate IP from deep fake and online threats.
In the John Wick star’s case, he’s hired Loti to find his imitators and get TikTok and Meta to shut them down. The company’s founder, data scientist Luke Arrigoni, said this is an issue Reeves is dedicated to fixing.
“He cares very much about how his fans are treated, and he’s very invested in trying to solve this problem,” Arrigoni told the outlet, revealing that Loti has issued nearly 40,000 account takedown orders on Reeves’ behalf in the past year alone.
But it’s not just Reeves copycats they’re after. THR’s Rebecca Keegan, who went undercover as a potential romance scam victim, was contacted by an account pretending to be the actor’s publicist Cheryl Maisel.
When speaking with the real Maisel, she said, “This is sad.” As such, Reeves also hires Loti to takedown her impersonators, as well as any others within his inner circle.
While undercover, Keegan was contacted by multiple fake Reeves accounts, theorizing that he’s a popular choice due to the fact that he’s well-liked and he’s not got a strong online presence.
She discovered a wide range of made-up images of him, saying that most of them are photoshopped variations of a picture of Reeves attending a 2017 motorcycle fair in Italy.
He might be working hard to protect his own fans (and paying the price for it), but the wider issue of AI and deep fakes being used to con people is leaving the industry concerned.
Erin West, a former prosecutor who specializes in tech crime, said, “The enemy behind this is super-skilled.
“The psychological hold they have over people is like nothing I’ve ever seen. It is cult-like. It absolutely overwhelms any type of reasonable thought. They’re able to overcome what humans would normally discern to be a ridiculous situation.”
Alexandra Shannon, head of strategic development at CAA, added, “There is a growing awareness and a growing concern about the marked increase in AI content featuring talent. We feel strongly that there have to be rules and regulations in place for everybody.”
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