Liza Jane Likins had no idea that a simple update to her social media profile following the death of her husband of 23 years would change her life forever.
Likins, a backing singer who toured with Fleetwood Mac and Linda Ronstadt fell victim to a Nigerian online romance scammer and were scammed out of more than $1 million in cash and cryptocurrency.
Over the course of two years, Likins became involved in a “very complicated scam” by a man claiming to be an Australian gold digger who wooed her over the internet with stolen photos of a German life coach.
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Liza Likins, Stevie Nicks’ roommate and former backup singer, was scammed out of more than $1 million by a Nigerian scammer. (Liza Jane Likins)
“I had nothing left. I sold my house,” Likins told Fox News Digital exclusively. “This scammer wanted me to sell my car, but luckily that was when I saw the show ‘Social Catfish,’ so I didn’t sell my car.
“I wanted to kill myself at first, because my husband left me in a very good condition, and after two years with this scammer, I had nothing left but my car and my clothes, and I just wanted to end my life. just wanted to kill myself.” I didn’t know what I was going to do.”
Likins added: “I had no money for food. I had no money to pay my utilities. My electricity was turned off twice. I lost 40 pounds. I got Covid. I had no money for a doctor. I mean, I was really, really in trouble.”
Her problem with the scammer started immediately after a small change in her social media account.
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“When my husband died, on my Facebook profileI put in there that… I was now a widow. Big mistake,” Likins said. ‘That’s like putting a sign on yourself that says ‘scam bait’. That’s how it all started.”
Likins sang for years with Linda Ronstadt (right) and was roommates with Stevie Nicks (left). (Liza Likins)
Likins recalled that the scammer was a “perfect gentleman” in their first online conversations, and said that despite her not yet being interested in anything romantically, he would write to her “every day for six months.”
“When my husband died, I posted on my Facebook profile that… I was now a widow. A big mistake. That’s like hanging a sign on yourself that says ‘swindle bait’.”
“One day he sent me pictures, and with each picture there was a complicated, complicated story,” she recalls. “All the photos were stolen from the German life coach’s public site on Facebook. One day he sent me a photo of him, supposedly next to a statue of Buddha, and that’s what happened when I got that photo. I thought, ‘Okay, it maybe this person will be fine.'”
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Likins had no idea that the web of lies had already begun. She was told that her online lover was the director of a gold mine, and that he was currently in the Australian outback with a team of 20 on his last job before retirement.
He was running out of time for the expedition and already had $8,000 in hand. To make matters worse, if they wanted to communicate, she would have to send him $1,000 and cryptocurrency so he could get the right WiFi to use his phone so they could stay in touch while he worked in Australia.
Likins claimed they spoke via FaceTime using a “highly sophisticated” method using audio equipment combined with video components. When the video elements “froze,” the scammer would say, “I can’t hear you anymore, let’s get back to texting.”
Likins started seeing a romantic suitor after changing her Facebook profile to “widow.” (Liza Likins)
Each request for money became more and more complicated, but Likins was still hooked on the scammer, who presented 24-karat gold bars and asked for her home address so he could safely send a safe full of bundled $100 bills to her home.
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“I have a video of this purple helicopter taking off,” Likins said of an extravagant plan. “I checked all the specifications, the address, the email address, the phone number, everything was checked. And they sent me emails saying they were on their way to deliver this safe to my home address.
“The scammer said if I upgraded the logistics company’s shipping, I would have it in three days. So I did. That was the first really large sum of money.”
Nothing was ever delivered to her home.
“I went to the airport four different times to pick up this person because he sent me pictures of his name on a boarding pass arriving at a certain day and time,” Likins said. “I was going to the airport, and of course… the flight didn’t exist, and neither did he.”
The television show ‘Social Catfish’ made her realize she was being scammed. (Liza Likins)
The scam was accidentally over when Likins targeted a television program called “Social Catfish.” She “went into shock” within minutes of the program after seeing a story similar to her own play on TV, and wrote to the producers asking them to get in touch.
Through research, “Social Catfish” (a company that verifies online identities through AI reverse search technology) discovered the real identity of the scammer.
“I was going to the airport, and of course… the flight didn’t exist, and neither did he.”
Despite losing everything, Likins found strength in an unlikely person and came into contact with the real person in the photos the scammer sent her.
“It turns out the reason there was a photo of him with Buddha is because he is a German spiritual and business life coach,” Likins said. “He’s like the German version of Tony Robbins.“
She added: ‘He started doing everything he could to advise me on how to heal myself and reminded me to love myself, forgive myself and keep living. And what I had to do was tell my story to help other people. that other people like me don’t get ripped off.”
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