A disabled woman lost £11,000 to an Instagram cryptocurrency romance scammer who posed as an Australian TV vet. Superfan Lisa Nock, 44, was drawn in by a “fake but convincing” Instagram account of Dr Chris – an Australian veterinarian best known for the television series Bondi Vet.
The crook running the account posed as Dr Chris Brown when Lisa got in touch, thinking she was talking to the real vet. The conversation turned “romantic” and the fraudster began “love bombing” Lisa and even proposed.
Believing they were in a relationship, Lisa agreed to transfer the fraudster money for flights and visas to visit her in the UK. For more than a year-and-a-half, Lisa transferred them a total of £11,000 through multiple cryptocurrency wallets, with the biggest single payment being £7,000.
The funds – most of which were from disability allowance – meant Lisa went without Taekwondo and swimming lessons to fund the con. Eventually realising that she was being scammed, Lisa cut ties with the fraudster in January 2025 and reported them to West Midlands Police, which reported it to Action Fraud. An investigation is ongoing.
Lisa, who is unable to work, from Staffordshire, West Midlands, said: “I thought it was real at the time. Although they were flirty at the beginning, we were talking for six months before money was mentioned.
“They knew I was disabled, had limited funds and they exploited that entirely. Didn’t have a lot financially and now I’ve been left with nothing.
“I’m sharing my story to help warn others, especially those that are vulnerable like me. I never thought something like this would happen to me- until it was too late.”
After initially contacting what Lisa thought was Dr Chris’ Instagram account in September 2022, the account responded immediately. The pair began communication before exchanging numbers and messaging on WhatsApp.
“I felt very excited because I wasn’t expecting a response,” Lisa said. “Our chat started friendly, talking about family and friends, but then it soon turned flirty and then the love bombing started. I wasn’t looking for something like that, but I liked the friendship side of it.”
By November, the scammer pretending to be Dr Chris said that he “loved “Lisa. He claimed he would come and visit her in the UK, but needed £2,000 for flights.
Lisa said: “I lost myself in it and believed that he loved me. I wanted to see him so much, I started going without things like Taekwondo and swimming lessons to transfer the money.”
On April 23, 2023, Lisa transferred £2,000 to an account via PayPal. The scammer then persuaded Lisa to transfer another £7,000 to pay for a temporary hire – a different vet to take over Bondi Vet – while he visited her in the UK.
He set her up with a cryptocurrency wallet – where holdings are only accessible by using a private key, Lisa transferred a further £2,000 in cryptocurrency payments before saying she “couldn’t do it anymore” in December 2024 because she could no longer afford it financially.
The fraudster didn’t follow up with Lisa and their communication ended for good. Lisa started to suspect the whole thing was a scam when she noticed the different emails were personal Yahoo emails and not official business emails from the vet.
In January 31, 2025, Lisa went to West Midlands Police. Her case has been passed on to Action Fraud and she is waiting for an update.
She said: “I’m not hopeful that I’ll get any money back. They are sneaky and clever – they really fooled me. I feel humiliated and let down.
“Looking back, there were red flags, such as I never spoke to this person over the phone or FaceTime. I stopped buying certain things and going out with my friend so I could put aside some of my disability allowance.
“How can people be so cruel. To this day, I don’t know who I was talking to for a year-and-a-half, which is scary. I wouldn’t want anyone to go through what I have and I hope the real Dr Chris knows I’m still a fan.”
