During this time, the widow paid £140,000 of her family’s money to scammers, took the maximum daily cash withdrawal of £500, and even had her car taken to prevent her from using ATMs.

According to Mail Online, Janet Fordham died in a crash on February 14, 2023, after having been to Ghana in October.

At the time of her trip to Ghana, the 69-year-old was living in a caravan with her son Martin and daughter-in-law Melanie Fordham in Honiton, Devon, after depleting her savings and selling her home and land.

Mrs Fordham’s issues began in 2017, when she began using online dating websites and fell in love with a romance fraudster posing as a British Army sergeant stationed in Syria.

Mrs Fordham was duped into transferring him approximately £150,000, according to Devon Coroner’s Court, although her family is unsure how she went from one fraud to the next.

Mrs Fordham, according to the inquest, was the victim of many online frauds over a five-year period, causing her to lose her home and life savings.

During this time, the widow paid £140,000 of her family’s money to scammers, withdrew the maximum £500 per day in cash, and even had her car taken to prevent her from using ATMs.

Mrs Fordham’s family attempted everything to stop her, as police confronted her about fraud suspicions in 2017, 2020, and 2022.

However, no matter what the police did, Mrs Fordham refused to cooperate, thus the investigation could not proceed further.

The elderly housekeeper then proceeded to Ghana in October 2022 to meet with a man named Kofi, who promised to be able to help her get her money back.

They had grown romantically involved and were on their way to gain consent from a member of his family for marriage when the fatal accident occurred on Valentine’s Day 2023.

Kofi was driving when the car veered off the road and crashed, killing Mrs Fordham. He eventually pleaded guilty to driving charges and received a suspended prison sentence and a fine, the court heard.