Janet Fordham, a retired housekeeper who was living in a caravan at her son and daughter-in-law’s home in Devon, died in Ghana after she was relentlessly scammed via a dating site
A widow tragically died in a road accident in Ghana after she was scammed of up to £1million in a series of romance frauds, an inquest has heard.
Janet Fordham, 69, suffered fatal injuries in the collision on February 14 2023, having travelled to the country the previous October. Devon Coroner’s Court heard Mrs Fordham had fallen victim to several online scams over a five-year period that saw her lose her home and life savings – estimated to be up to £1m.
At the time of travelling to Ghana, the retired housekeeper was living in a caravan at the home of her son Martin and daughter-in-law Melanie Fordham in Honiton, Devon.
READ MORE: Bikini-wearing MAGA influencer unmasked as Indian man using AIREAD MORE: Woman faked having cancer and conned real survivor into being ‘chemo angel’
Mrs Fordham began using online dating websites in 2017 and met a man who was claiming to be a British Army sergeant major working in Syria who needed her help to get gold bars to the UK. “He was retiring soon to return to the UK. She said they were in love and they were going to buy a house together,” Mrs Fordham said.
“Janet mentioned nothing about any money at that point, but I remember candidly saying to her that it all seemed a little unbelievable, and the next thing he would be asking for money.
“I told her categorically not to send him any. Janet had been sending money to him, but we didn’t find out about this until years later. I believe she gave him around £150,000.” Mrs Fordham later learned she had been further defrauded by a “diplomat” after her UK bank accounts were frozen.
“I think she realised that she had been scammed, but initially struggled to accept it,” Mrs Fordham said. “We’re not clear how Janet transitioned from one fraud to the next.
“We became aware that she transferred money by several means, including bank transfers, wire transfers at the post office, and potentially a travel agent. The banks, post office etc stopped her from using their services, transferring money, because they recognised that it was fraud.”
The inquest heard another man, named as Kofi, contacted Mrs Fordham saying he was a doctor in Ghana working part-time in a friend’s mobile phone repair shop.
“He was working on a phone that saw messages to and from Janet on there. He believed Janet had been scammed,” Mrs Fordham said.“He felt compelled to help her get her money back. So, he took her phone number and made contact.” Police spoke with Mrs Fordham about Kofi, but officers could not further the investigation due to her lack of engagement.
The court heard Mrs Fordham contacted police again because her mother-in-law was continuing to transfer money abroad using bitcoin and ATMs.
“Whether she was in so deep, she couldn’t accept it was all gone, she had to keep piling money in the hope of getting something back,” she said. “Whether she genuinely believed what she was being told, we will never know.” She also borrowed money from other family members, which totalled around £140,000, and was also in arrears on loans and credit cards.
“Janet wouldn’t tell us much, so we started opening some of her mail and discovered that she had cashed in a chunk of her pension,” Mrs Fordham said.
“She was withdrawing the maximum £500 a day, we believe to stockpile, and then transferred cash as the banks had stopped her doing electronic transfers. I was very aware that we don’t know everything and there is probably a whole lot more.” In October 2022, Mrs Fordham flew to Ghana to meet Kofi who she was romantically linked to.
“As a family, we tried everything to stop her, but she was adamant,” Mrs Fordham said. I spoke to her doctor, sought legal advice, but because she was of sound mind, albeit brainwashed, she was deemed to have capacity and there was nothing we could do.”
Detective Sergeant Ben Smith, of Devon and Cornwall Police, said officers had contact with Mrs Fordham about allegations of fraud in 2017, 2020 and 2022. “It shows Janet Fordham as a sustained victim of fraud throughout that period,” he said. It’s believed that Janet has sent a considerable amount of money, estimated at between £800,000 and £1 million over that period.
“As a result, she had used all her savings, sold her home and land, and was living in a caravan with Martin and Melanie in their garden. Police throughout these investigations have endeavoured to do everything they can to persuade Janet not to have any contact with the criminals and not to hand over money.”
“There was no issue with capacity and that she was making these decisions of her own free will.” Mr Smith said on the day she died, Mrs Fordham and Kofi were driving from Accra to the Oti region “to get approval from a family member for marriage”.
Kofi was driving when the car left the road and crashed, with Mrs Fordham suffering fatal injuries. He later pleaded guilty to driving offences and received a suspended prison sentence and fine, the court heard. Mr Smith confirmed there was no evidence of any third-party involvement in Mrs Fordham’s death.
Philip Spinney, senior coroner for Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, recorded a narrative conclusion. “The evidence shows that Janet Fordham lost a considerable amount of money between 2017 and 2022,” he said.
“The true figure is not known, but it’s believed to be between £800,000 and £1 million. Devon of Cornwall Police investigated these matters, although I should point out that Janet herself did not ever make a formal complaint to the police, nor did she co-operate fully with the police investigation.
“In October 2022, she travelled to Ghana to meet a man named Kofi. He had agreed to help her try and recover some of the money. The family believed that she also went for romantic reasons. Indeed, it’s believed that she planned to marry Kofi.”
He added: “I conclude that Janet Fordham died as a consequence of a head injury that was probably sustained in a road traffic collision.”
