Little did Liza Jane Likins know that simply updating her social media profiles would change her life forever after the death of her husband of 23 years.
Back-up singer Likins, who toured with Fleetwood Mac and Linda Ronstadt, fell victim to a Nigerian online romance scammer who was robbed of more than $1 million in cash and cryptocurrency funds.
Over two years, Likins became involved in a “very complex scam” by a man who claimed to be an Australian gold miner and wooed her via the internet with stolen photos of a German life coach.
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Stevie Nicks’ roommate and former backup singer Liza Likins was scammed out of over $1 million by a Nigerian scammer. (Lisa Jane Likens)
“I had nothing left. I sold the house,” Likins told Fox News Digital exclusively. “This scammer asked me to sell my car, but fortunately I watched the ‘Social Catfish’ broadcast at the time, so the car didn’t sell.
“At first I wanted to kill myself because my husband left me in such good nick of time. And after two years with this scammer, I had nothing left but my car and my clothes and I just wanted to take my life. I didn’t know what I was going to do. .”
“I didn’t have money to buy food. I didn’t have money to pay my bills. My power went out twice. I lost 40 pounds. I got COVID. I didn’t have money to go to the doctor,” Likins said. I mean, I’m in really, really big trouble.”
Our problems with scammers started soon after we made a small change to our social media accounts.
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“When my husband passed away, I wrote the following on my Facebook profile: I am now a widow. It was a big mistake,” Likins said. “It’s like labeling yourself as scam bait. That’s how it all started.”
Likins sang for years with Linda Ronstadt (right) and was roommates with Stevie Nicks (left). (Lisa Likens)
Likins recalled that during their initial online conversations, the con man was a “perfect gentleman” and that he would write to her “every day for six months” despite her not being romantically interested yet.
“When my husband passed away, I wrote the following on my Facebook profile: I am now a widow. It’s a big mistake. It’s like labeling yourself as scam bait.”
“One day he sent me pictures, each of which told a complex and arcane story,” she remembered. “All the photos were stolen from a German life coach public site on Facebook. One day he sent me a photo of himself supposedly next to a Buddha statue, and when I got it, I thought, ‘Okay, this is the guy. It might be okay.'”
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Little did Likins know that the web of lies had already begun. She was told her online suitor was the head of a gold mine, and he was currently in the Australian outback with a team of 20 men in his last job before retirement.
He was running out of time for his expedition and already had $8,000 on him. To make matters worse, if they wanted to communicate, she had to send him $1,000 and some cryptocurrency so he could buy proper Wi-Fi so he could use his phone so they could stay in touch while he was working in Australia.
Likins claimed to have communicated via Facetime using “highly sophisticated” methods, using audio equipment matching the video component. If a video element ‘freezes’, the scammer ‘can no longer hear it.’ Let’s get back to texting,’ he says.
Likins changed her Facebook profile to ‘widow’ and then began chatting with her romantic suitor. (Lisa Likens)
Each request for money became more complex and complicated, but Likins was still fascinated by the scammers. The scammer showed her a 24-carat gold bar and asked for her home address so he could safely send a safe containing $100 bills to her home.
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“I have a video of a purple helicopter taking off,” Likins said of one extravagant plan. “I verified everything I had checked out – all specifications, address, email, phone number – and they sent me an email saying they were on their way to deliver this safe to my home address.
“The scammer said I could get it in 3 days if I upgraded my logistics company’s delivery, so I did that. It was my first time receiving a lot of money.”
Nothing was delivered to her home.
“I went to the airport four times to pick this guy up because he would send me a photo of himself with his name on his boarding pass arriving at a certain date and time,” Likins said. “I used to go to the airport, and of course… that plane didn’t exist and that person didn’t exist.”
The “Social Catfish” TV show helped her realize she was being scammed. (Lisa Likens)
The scam ended accidentally while Likins was watching a TV show called “Social Catfish.” After seeing a story similar to her play on TV, she was “in shock” within minutes of the show and wrote to the producers asking to get in touch.
‘Social Catfish’ (a company that verifies online identities through AI reverse search technology) conducted an investigation and discovered the real identity of the fraudster.
“I’m going to the airport. Of course… that plane didn’t exist and neither did he.”
Despite losing everything, Rickins finds strength from an unexpected person and comes into contact with the real person in the photo sent by the conman.
“It turns out the reason there is a picture of him with Buddha is because he is a German spiritual and business life coach,” Likins said. “He’s like a German Tony Robbins.”
She added: “He started doing everything he could to advise me on how to heal myself and remind me to love myself, forgive myself and move on.” “So that people like me don’t get scammed.”
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