The human condition

What is it about betrayal that triggers such a visceral reaction in people? We desperately want to believe people and be believed by them because most people are basically honest. When a breach in that trust occurs, it turns the best of friends into fast enemies. Therein lies a problem with this new relationship aid we call the internet. Now it is possible for people who live thousands of miles apart to be extremely close friends, but what is crucial in the relationship is honesty, and it's all too easy to be something you are not. When we discover we have been lied to, we feel as if we were made a fool of. Now those on the outside would not see it that way. They see the liar in the situation to be the fool, but sometimes we can be too close to the forest and all we see is trees.

Heidi Diaz laid an intricate labyrinth of falsehoods about who she is and what she has accomplished. Her web of deceit was designed to make people admire her. It speaks volumes about her character, as well as the character of the trusting people she deceived. After all, here was this amazing person who had lost 198 pounds in 11 months, and she kept it off for five years. That alone made her an icon in the internet world of dieters. But wait! There’s more! Not only was she accomplished in weight loss, this wonderful woman actually took time from her personal life to be a foster parent, and not to just any kids. This woman was a foster mom to teenage boys. Even when they’re your own, teenage boys can be a handful, but this Wonder Woman had a house full of them and all but one weren’t hers. What a saint she was! But wait! There’s more! In addition to devoting tireless hours on the computer giving diet advice, taking care of her own son and the sons of others, she was a Court Appointed Special Advocate, hereafter referred to as C.A.S.A. Really, did this woman ever get any sleep?

All of this was the house of cards known as the lies of Heidi Diaz. She created a persona designed for worship. She was so desperate to be looked up to that she perhaps made herself to be the things she admires, and I believe that admiration was her original motivation. The fortune that followed was icing on the low-carb cake. Nobody really knows for sure, because Heidi Diaz is one of those unknowable people. After learning of her lies and deceit, one has to ask if anything she ever told us was true. Did we really know anything about her at all? As in most scams, the story of Heidi Diaz is the skin of the truth stuffed with lies.

She told us she lived in Southern California, was in her forties, and was a divorcee with a teenage son. That was the skin of the truth. All the rest were lies. Maybe at one time she was a foster parent, but not any more. Maybe at one time she was a C.A.S.A., but that was a lie too. And let’s not forget, she didn’t lose 198 pounds. In fact, there’s no proof that she’s ever lost any weight at all.

The lies she told about her personal life paled in comparison to the lies Kimkins.com was built upon. At one time, the site was teeming with false testimonials and false photographs to go along with them. She has a penchant for using the names and faces of other people without their permission. Going by at least 6 different aliases, she built her empire and basked in the glow of the admiration that poured from those she was deceiving. Perhaps the biggest and boldest lie was using the photo of an attractive brunette in a red dress who was clearly 20 years Heidi’s junior. That was when the red flag went up for me. I’d seen pictures of people that were believable as Heidi Diaz, but not this one. I knew that I knew that I knew the woman in the red dress was not “Kimmer”. I believe the red dress photo was the light bulb moment for a lot of people.

Once the investigation of Kimmer began, it was like a snowball down a mountainside. As more lies became illuminated by the light of truth, the snowball grew more ominous on the horizon of Heidi Diaz’ world. It was then that she told perhaps her biggest lie. She was stepping down as owner of Kimkins.com. For public consumption, she turned the reins over to Jeannie Baitinger, her P.R. director, claiming she was available as a consultant only. It was a diversionary tactic designed to confuse and distract while she spirited her fortune away to conceal it from the long arm of the law. She created companies, LLC’s, trust funds, purchased property, and attempted to make nice with the IRS. It was all too little, and too late.

All of these lies were uncovered by the tenacious group of people known as ducks, and it was Heidi’s worst nightmare. Such is the visceral reaction we humans have when we know we have been betrayed. Although they may have never been friends, her betrayal has turned Heidi Diaz into the enemy of many. Through the medium of the internet, Heidi Diaz pretended to be the friend we could all look up to. She accepted our admiration under false pretenses and we are angry about being betrayed. We will not give up until a judgment has been won against her. Then we will continue to keep the pressure on the authorities to prosecute her for fraud. Heidi Diaz must surely wish she had never perpetrated this betrayal, for it has been her downfall.