Keanu Reeves is not in love with you The murky world of online romance fraud

Holmes, a personality on X with the handle @deathtospinach, offers a tongue-in-cheek guide to the world of online-romance fraud, also commonly referred to as catfishing. Perpetrators create fake personas in order to lure victims into relationships with the goal of extracting money. The author interweaves her chapters with real-life scenarios and stories from victims, recounting how these deceptions unfold. She provides lists with common schemes and examples. Romance scams can lead not only to drained bank accounts but also stolen identities and blackmail. The book's title is a reference to the prevalence of online celebrity impersonation. Most people tend to underestimate their own susceptibility to deceit and fraud; Holmes notes that none of the monetary damage really compares to what this trickery can do to a person's self-esteem. The emotional scars and sense of humiliation linger far longer. Holmes takes pains to emphasize that many people are duped simply because they are lonely or vulnerable, not because of gullibility or foolishness. Liberally peppered with British slang, the narrative is valuable for its cautionary lessons.

Holmes, who posts screenshots of her interactions with scammers on the X account @deathtospinach, dives into the funny and frightening world of online romantic fraud in her eye-opening debut. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Holmes joined X (then known as Twitter, which she still insists on calling it) for the first time and entertained herself by responding to direct messages from men who claimed to be lovesick soldiers or oil rig workers dying to meet her--if only she'd pay their way. She eventually started posting her interactions with these impostors, some of whom claimed to be celebrities like Keanu Reeves, and reproduces many of the conversations here, to hilarious effect (she strung one self-identified Prince William along by sending pictures of the Buckingham Palace gates, claiming she was right outside). After volleying with enough scammers that she'd unwittingly made herself vulnerable a few times, Holmes came to consider the real women who've fallen victim to such cons. She includes interviews with several of those women, including a British detective, and even a few scammers (many of them Nigerian teenagers), to highlight red flags readers should be on the lookout for. Equal parts riotous and enlightening, this peek behind the digital curtain underlines the dangers and delights of the Information Age. Photos. (Apr.)