Janet Fordham, a 69-year-old British woman, died in a road crash in Ghana after traveling there in an attempt to recoup some of the up to £1 million she lost in a series of romance frauds over five years. An inquest in Devon heard that she was cheated of her life savings and home by fraudsters apparently based in the UK, Germany, the US, and Ghana, with estimates suggesting she sent between £800,000 and £1 million from 2017 to 2022.
Fordham's daughter-in-law, Melanie Fordham, stated that Janet began using online dating websites in 2017 and met a man claiming to be a British army sergeant major working in Syria. He allegedly needed her help to transport gold bars to the UK, and they planned to buy a house together. Despite warnings, Janet is believed to have handed over about £150,000. She was later defrauded by another man posing as a diplomat, and her family noted she struggled to accept being scammed, transitioning between frauds through bank transfers, wire transfers, and potentially a travel agent.
In October 2022, Fordham was contacted by a man in Ghana known as Kofi, who purported to be a doctor and claimed to have discovered her scam details while working part-time in a phone shop. He offered to help recover her money, leading her to fly to Accra. Their relationship reportedly developed into a romance, and Fordham agreed to marry him. On Valentine's Day 2023, while Kofi was driving her to meet a family member to discuss the marriage, the car swerved and flipped onto its roof. Fordham, who was not wearing a seatbelt, sustained fatal injuries.
Devon and Cornwall police concluded that no third party was involved in the crash, and the driver admitted to a driving offence. Detective Sergeant Ben Smith described Fordham as a victim of "sustained fraud," noting she had sold her home and land and was living in a caravan in Devon. Police efforts to persuade her to stop contact with criminals and sending money were unsuccessful, as she was judged to be of sound mind and could not be forced to desist.
Senior coroner Philip Spinney highlighted "some inconsistencies and gaps in the evidence" regarding the crash, stating the incident had not been rigorously scrutinized. He concluded that Janet Fordham died as a consequence of a head injury probably sustained in a road traffic collision. This case underscores the severe risks faced by victims of romance scams and the challenges in preventing such frauds, even with intervention from authorities and family.
Source: www.theguardian.com