A 69-year-old widow died in a road accident in Ghana after losing up to £1 million to a series of romance scams, an inquest has heard.
Janet Fordham sustained fatal injuries in a crash on 14 February 2023 during a trip to Ghana, where she had travelled to marry a man she met online who claimed he could help her recover her lost money.
According to Graphiconline.gh report, the inquest at Devon Coroner’s Court revealed that over five years, Mrs Fordham fell victim to multiple online fraud schemes, draining her life savings and costing her home. At the time of her trip, she was living in a caravan at her son Martin’s home in Honiton, Devon.
Mrs Fordham began using online dating platforms in 2017, where she met a man posing as a British Army sergeant major stationed in Syria. He convinced her to send large sums of money under the pretext of transporting gold bars to the UK. Her daughter-in-law, Melanie Fordham, said the family was unaware of the payments until years later, estimating that around £150,000 had been sent.
She was later defrauded again by another individual posing as a diplomat after her UK bank accounts were frozen. Despite intervention by banks and the Post Office, which blocked further transactions after identifying suspicious activity, Mrs Fordham continued to send money through alternative means, including wire transfers, Bitcoin, and cash withdrawals.
A third man, known as Kofi, later contacted her, claiming to be a doctor in Ghana who had discovered evidence of the fraud on a mobile phone. He offered to help her recover the stolen funds, leading to a romantic relationship between them.
Police had previously warned Mrs Fordham about the scams in 2017, 2020, and 2022, advising her to cut contact with the perpetrators. However, officers noted she continued to act of her own free will.
Her family said she may have been unable to accept the extent of her losses or genuinely believed the promises made to her. In addition to her savings, she borrowed approximately £140,000 from relatives, accrued debts, and withdrew funds from her pension.
In October 2022, Mrs Fordham travelled to Ghana to meet Kofi, despite efforts by her family to dissuade her. While there, the pair were travelling from Accra to the Oti Region to seek family approval for marriage when their vehicle left the road and crashed.
There was no evidence of third-party involvement in the accident. Kofi later pleaded guilty to driving offences and received a suspended prison sentence and a fine.
Senior coroner Philip Spinney concluded that Mrs Fordham died from a head injury sustained in the road traffic collision.
