British widow dies in Ghana road crash after £1m romance scam losses

Janet Fordham, 69, died in a car crash on February 14, 2023 in Ghana. She had come to the country "to get approval from a family member for marriage" to a Ghanaian man she met online.

Mrs. Fordham had lost up to £1m in romance frauds over a five-year period. She started using online dating websites in 2017 and met a man who claimed to be a British Army sergeant major working in Syria. Her daughter-in-law, Melanie Fordham, said, "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." She also borrowed around £140,000 from other family members. Detective Sergeant Ben Smith, of Devon and Cornwall Police, said officers contacted Mrs. Fordham about allegations of fraud in 2017, 2020 and 2022 and tried to persuade her "not to have any contact with the criminals and not to hand over money".

Kofi later pleaded guilty to drivin...