Janet Fordham, a 69-year-old British widow, died after travelling to Ghana to meet a man who claimed he could help her recover the money she had lost to romance fraudsters. She sustained fatal injuries when the vehicle she was travelling in crashed on February 14, 2023, according to an inquest. Her family said she had been defrauded of her entire £1 million life savings over several years.
Fordham's personal life was marked by tragedy and vulnerability. Her first husband died when their son Martin was one year old, killed while digging a well, her family said. She later had a long-term partner, Gerald, who developed dementia; she cared for him until his death. After Gerald died, his adult children changed the locks and threw her out, despite a will allowing her to stay, according to her family. At the time of her travel to Ghana, she was living in a caravan with her son and daughter-in-law in Honiton, Devon, multiple reports said.
She was a very kind, trusting and loving person who was taken advantage of by these evil people.
The romance fraud began in 2017 when Fordham started using online dating websites. According to her family, she fell in love with a man claiming to be a British Army sergeant major in Syria who said he needed help to get gold bars to the UK. The fraud occurred between 2017 and 2022, according to multiple reports. Her daughter-in-law Melanie Fordham described her as 'a very kind, trusting and loving person who was taken advantage of by these evil people,' as reported by Daily Mail - Home.
As the fraud escalated, Fordham was withdrawing the maximum £500 a day in cash, had her car seized to stop her going to ATM machines, and even sent £140,000 of her family's money to scammers, her family said. She fell victim to several online scams over five years, losing her home and life savings, according to multiple reports. She later learned she was further defrauded by a 'diplomat' after her UK bank accounts were frozen, multiple reports said. Melanie Fordham described her as 'so desperate to get her money back that she would have done anything,' as reported by Daily Mail - Home.
She was so desperate to get her money back that she would have done anything.
Police spoke to Fordham about allegations of fraud in 2017, 2020 and 2022, but could not investigate further as she refused to engage, Devon and Cornwall Police said. Detective Sergeant Ben Smith confirmed no evidence of third-party involvement in her death. Melanie Fordham described that 'we tried to stop her but she wouldn't listen. She was completely brainwashed,' as reported by Daily Mail - Home.
Fordham flew to Ghana in October 2022 to meet a man named Kofi who claimed he could help get her money back, according to multiple reports. Kofi was driving when the car crashed, and he later pleaded guilty to driving offences, receiving a suspended sentence and fine, multiple reports said. Her family said Kofi claimed he could help her retrieve her money after she was fleeced out of her life savings, leaving her destitute, unable to afford food and living in a caravan at her son's farmhouse in Devon.
We tried to stop her but she wouldn't listen. She was completely brainwashed.
The exact amount of money lost by Fordham remains unclear. While her family said she lost her entire £1 million life savings, some reports suggest she lost nearly a million pounds, which could affect the scale of the fraud. It is also unknown whether there was any third-party involvement in the car crash that killed her, though police have said there is no evidence of such. The specific actions police took in 2017, 2020, and 2022 when she refused to cooperate have not been detailed. What happened to the fraudsters who targeted Fordham, and whether any were prosecuted, remains unanswered. How her family managed her finances after her death is also unclear.