A British grandmother died in a road traffic accident in Ghana after losing her entire life savings to romance fraud.
Janet Fordham, 69, travelled to Ghana in October 2022 after falling victim to online scammers who reportedly convinced her to send between £800,000 and £1 million over several years.
The scams began in 2017 when she met an online impersonator posing as a British Army officer, leading to repeated financial losses that left her homeless and living in a caravan with family in Devon.
Despite attempts by relatives and authorities to intervene, Fordham continued sending money abroad through various channels after her bank accounts were restricted.
She later became involved with a man in Ghana known as Kofi, who claimed he could help recover her lost funds. Their relationship reportedly became romantic, and she travelled to Ghana to meet him.
On 14 February 2023, Fordham died from injuries sustained in a car crash while travelling with Kofi in Ghana. According to report, there was no evidence of third-party involvement in the crash, and he later faced penalties for driving offences.
Authorities concluded that Fordham had been a long-term victim of fraud but was deemed to have had mental capacity throughout the period, making legal intervention difficult.
Her family has since described her case as a devastating example of prolonged romance fraud and its consequences.
