Liza Jane Likins had no idea that a simple update to her social media profile after 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 scam and was duped out of over a million dollars in cash and crypto funds.
Over the course of two years, Likins became embroiled in a “very complicated scam” by a man who claimed to be an Australian gold digger and who wooed her online with stolen photos of a German life coach.
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Liza Likins, Stevie Nicks’ roommate and former backing singer, was defrauded by a Nigerian fraudster of more than a million dollars. (Liza Jane Likins)
“I had nothing left. I sold my house,” Likins told Fox News Digital exclusively. “This scammer wanted me to sell the car, but luckily I was watching the show “Social Codfish” at the time, so I didn’t sell the car.
“At first I wanted to kill myself, because my husband left me in really good shape, and after two years with that cheater, I had nothing but a car and clothes and I just wanted to end my life. I didn’t know what I was going to do.”
Likins added: “I didn’t have money for food. I didn’t have money to pay utilities. My power went out twice. I lost 40 pounds. I got Covid. I didn’t have money for a doctor. I mean, I was really, really in trouble .”
Her problem with the impostor started immediately after one small change in her social media account.
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“When my husband died, on mine Facebook profileI put it there that… I was now a widow. Big mistake,” Likins said. “It’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). (Lisa Lykins)
Likins recalled that the scammer was a “perfect gentleman” in their first online chats and said he would text her “every day for six months”, despite her not being romantically interested yet.
“When my husband passed away, I wrote on my Facebook profile that I was … now I was a widow. Big mistake. It’s like putting a sign on yourself that says scam bait.”
“One day he sent me pictures, and each picture had a complicated, intricate story that went with it,” she recalled. “All the photos were stolen from a German public life coach Facebook page. One day he sent me a picture of himself, supposedly, next to a Buddha statue, and that’s when I got that picture. I thought, ‘OK, this person could be good.'”
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Likins had no idea that the web of lies had already begun. She was told that her online suitor was a gold mine director and was currently in the Australian outback with a team of 20 people on his last job before retirement.
His time was running out on the expedition, and he was already $8,000 in the hole. To make matters worse, if they wanted to communicate, she would have to send him $1,000 and cryptocurrency so he could buy proper Wi-Fi to use his phone so they could stay in touch while he was working in Australia.
Likins claimed they spoke via Facetime using a “very sophisticated” method using audio equipment matched with video components. When the video elements “paused,” the scammer would say, “I can’t hear you anymore, let’s go back to texting.”
Likins began chatting with a romantic suitor after changing her Facebook profile to “widow.” (Lisa Lykins)
Each request for money became more complicated and convoluted, but Likins was still hooked by the scammer, who displayed 24-karat gold bars and asked for her home address so he could safely send her a safe deposit box full of $100 bills.
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“I have video of this purple helicopter taking off,” Likins said of one extravagant plan. “I checked all the specifications, address, email, phone number, everything checked. And they emailed me that they are on their way to deliver this safe to my home address.
“The scammer said I would get it in three days if I improved the logistics company’s shipping. So I did. It was the first really big sum of money.”
Nothing was ever delivered to her home.
“I went to the airport four different times to pick up that person, because he would send me pictures of his name on the boarding pass that would arrive at a certain day and time,” Likins said. “I would go to the airport, and sure enough… that flight didn’t exist, and neither did he.”
The television show “Social Catfish” helped her realize that she had been deceived. (Lisa Lykins)
The scam happened to be over when Likins got involved television show called “Social catfish”. She “went into shock” minutes into the program after seeing a story similar to hers on TV, and wrote to the producers asking them to get in touch.
Through research, “Social catfish” (a company that verifies online identity through AI reverse lookup technology) discovered the true identity of the fraudster.
“I would go to the airport, and sure enough, … that flight didn’t exist, and neither did he.”
Despite losing everything, Likins found strength in an unusual person and made contact with the real person in the photos sent to her by the scammer.
“As it turns out, the reason there was a picture of him with the Buddha is because he’s a German spiritual and business life coach,” Likins said. “He’s like the German version Tony Robbins.“
She added: “He started doing everything he could to give me advice on how to heal and remind me to love myself and to forgive myself and to get on with life. And what I had to do was tell my story to help other people to other people like me don’t get fooled.”
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