san francisco — As the country celebrates Olympic figure skating phenom Alyssa Liu, a young woman in San Francisco is quietly picking up some fairy dust.
This is because she is also called Alyssa Liu, spelled exactly the same way. She feels the ripple effects of star fame.
But as you discover, it’s not always a good thing: Leo is apparently considered a scammer on Instagram.
Figure skating star Alyssa Liu wowed the world with her gold medal performances at the Milan Winter Olympics. She then returned home to crowds of fans eager to show their love.
video: Thousands celebrate Olympic gold medalist Alyssa Liu at her hometown parade in Auckland
Thousands gathered outside Auckland City Hall to celebrate hometown hero Alyssa Liu after she won two gold medals in figure skating at the 2026 Olympics.
This is it last Alyssa Liu, a tech worker in San Francisco.
“When she won the gold medal…they were like, ‘Oh, congratulations on the gold medal.’ “I say, ‘I can’t take credit for it but I’m really happy for her,'” Liu told sister station KGO-TV.
Over the years I’ve heard about the young skateboarding phenomenon from the East Bay that bears her name. Now the skater has reached superstardom, earning the admiration of fellow members of Generation Z, including Alyssa.
“I feel more inspired to be like her, to be more positive the way she is, because we share that part of our identity, like our names,” she said.
Now that Alyssa Liu (skater) has won the gold medal, this Alyssa has received online attention dedicated to the star.
“I would get…message requests from people trying to contact Alyssa. And not only that, but I think they somehow found my number online as well. So I would send them a text saying, ‘Hey, this isn’t the Alyssa you’re looking for,'” she explained.
Fans offered congratulations, asked to meet up, and left voice messages of admiration: “Leave a message!” (Screaming) We love you, Alyssa Liu… Goodbye, Alyssa Liu, I love you.”
It’s getting annoying.
What’s worse is that her name caught Meta’s attention.
“I logged into my account and for some reason, I was told that I had been suspended from Instagram and that I had 180 days to appeal this decision, otherwise I would be banned permanently,” Liu said.
This happened the day after the famous skater posted a story on her Instagram, warning about scammers creating fake accounts in her name.
“I wasn’t contacting anyone or trying to pretend I was her. My account is private. I stated very clearly on my bio that I was from New Jersey. I went to Berkeley,” she said.
Liu says she’s had this Instagram account for 15 years, since elementary school, while the young skater was here at the Auckland rink, training for a future to reach the stars.
“Definitely, I think her popularity and fame have suddenly exploded,” Liu said. “I love it, but yeah, I think that was definitely the motivation behind me being banned from Instagram,” she said.
Losing the account was a shock.
“It’s like a home base for all these dear memories that I have. Snapshots of my life at different time periods… so when I thought about the possibility of losing them, I felt really sad,” she said.
Liu filed an appeal, but Meta denied it, saying that her driver’s license was not sufficient proof of her identity.
Liu called KGO-TV. Meta told us that this Alyssa Liu is not a scammer, and a spokesperson has agreed to try to recover her account.
Until now, the matter remains in limbo.
“The parts of sharing the name that are a bit negative are the parts I don’t want. Like, I’d love to have my Instagram back!” Leo said.
We will be tracking.
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