Little did Liza Jane Likins know that a simple update to her social media profiles would change her life forever after her husband of 23 years passed away.
Likins, the backing vocalist who toured with Fleetwood Mac and Linda Ronstadt, fell victim to a Nigerian online romance scammer and was swindled out of more than $1 million USD cash and crypto funds.
Over the course of two years, Liggins was involved in a “very sophisticated scam” run by a man who claimed to be an Australian gold miner who stole photos of a German life coach. Woo her online.
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Stevie Nicks’ roommate and former backing singer Liza Likins was defrauded of more than $1 million by a Nigerian conman. (played by Lisa Jane Liggins)
“I had nothing. I sold my house,” Liggins told Fox News Digital exclusively. “This scammer wanted me to sell my car, but luckily I saw the show Social Catfish, so I didn’t sell my car.
“I wanted to kill myself at first because my husband kept me in good shape and after two years with this cheater I had nothing left but my car and my clothes and I just wanted to end my life life.
Liggins added, “I don’t have money to buy food. I don’t have money to pay utility bills. My power was cut off twice. I lost 40 pounds. I got COVID. I don’t have money to see a doctor.” I I mean, I was really, really in deep trouble.
Her problems with scammers started immediately after a small change was made to her social media accounts.
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“When my husband died, I wrote on my Facebook profile… I am now a widow. That was a big mistake,” Liggins said. “It’s like putting a sign on yourself that says scam bait. That’s where it all started.”
Liggins sang with Linda Ronstadt (right) for many years and was roommates with Stevie Nicks (left). (played by Lisa Liggins)
Liggins recalled that during their initial online conversations, the con man was a “perfect gentleman” and said that although she wasn’t interested in anything romantic yet, he would give her “every day for six months.” write a letter.
“When my husband died, I wrote on my Facebook profile… I am now a widow. That was a big mistake. It was like putting a sign on myself that said scam bait.”
“One day he sent me pictures, and each picture had a complex, puzzling story,” she recalled. “All the photos were stolen from the public Facebook site of a German life coach. One day, he sent me a photo of himself, supposedly next to a Buddha statue. When I received that photo, I was like Did it.
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Little did Liggins know that a web of lies had begun. She was told her online suitor, a gold mine supervisor, was working in his final job before retirement with a team of 20 men in the Australian outback.
Time was running out for his expedition, and he already had $8,000. To make matters worse, if they wanted to communicate, she had to give him $1,000 and cryptocurrency so he could buy proper Wi-Fi to use on his phone so they could stay in touch while he was working in Australia.
Riggins claimed they spoke via Facetime using a “very sophisticated” method using audio equipment that matched the video component. When the video element is “stuck,” the scammer will say, “I can’t hear you anymore, let’s keep texting.”
After Liggins changed her Facebook profile to “Widow,” she began talking to romantic suitors. (played by Lisa Liggins)
Each request for money became more complex and convoluted, but Liggins remained smitten by the conman, who showed off 24-karat gold bars and asked for her home address so he could safely send her a bag full of $100 bills. The safe was sent to her home.
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“I have a video of the purple helicopter going up,” Liggins said of an extravagant plan. “I checked all the specs, address, email, phone number, everything checked. They emailed me and said they were delivering this safe to my home address.
“The scammer said if I upgraded my logistics company to transport it, I could get it within three days. So I did. It was the first really big sum of money.”
Nothing was ever delivered to her house.
“I went to the airport four times to pick this guy up because he would send me a photo of his name on his boarding pass on a specific date and time,” Liggins said. “I would go to the airport and of course… that The flight doesn’t exist and neither does he.”
The “Social Catfish” TV show helped her realize she was being scammed. (played by Lisa Liggins)
The scam ended unexpectedly when Liggins listened to a TV show called “Social Catfish.” After seeing a story similar to her own on television, she was left “in shock” minutes after the show aired and wrote to producers asking to get in touch.
After research, Social Catfish, a company that uses artificial intelligence reverse search technology to verify online identities, discovered the true identity of the scammer.
“I would go to the airport and of course… that flight doesn’t exist and neither does he.”
Despite losing everything, Liggins finds strength in an unlikely person and connects with the real person in the photo the scammer sent her.
“It turns out the reason there’s a picture of him with Buddha is because he’s a German spiritual and business life coach,” Liggins said. “He’s like the German version of Tony Robbins.”
She added: “He started going out of his way to advise me on how to heal myself and remind me to love myself, forgive myself and move on with life. And all I had to do was tell my story to help other people so that other people like me don’t will be cheated.
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