Heartless Romance Scammers Send Family Video of Grandmother's Body After She Traveled to Ghana to Recover £1 Million in Stolen Funds

VILE romance scammers sent the son of a dead woman footage of her body after she flew to Ghana to reclaim her stolen wealth.

Retired Housekeeper , 69, lost £1million to scammers over a period of five years.

Martin was sent three videos of his dead mum Credit: Neil Hope The gran was cheated out of her life savings by romance fraudsters Credit: Neil Hope

Janet’s son, Martin Fordham, has since told how he only found out his mum had died when a suspected scammer sent him footage of her body on a mortuary slab.

Martin was also sent a request for £10,000 to cover hospital fees.

died in a horror crash in “suspicious circumstances” on after she travelled to Ghana in 2022 to reclaim her .

She was cheated out of her life savings by romance fraudsters and was left living in a caravan outside her son Martin’s home unable to buy food.

Martin set up Janet’s dating profile for her Credit: Neil Hope Before leaving for Ghana Janet had been living in a caravan on her son’s property Credit: Neil Hope

The fraud began after Martin set up an online profile for Janet in 2017.

Within weeks of the Match.com profile going live Janet began receiving messages from scammers but never allowed her son to view them.

Initially the fraudsters posed as an officer working in who said he needed her help to bring gold back to Britain. Janet gave him £140,000.

Janet would go on to hand over more and more of her life savings to the scammers, selling land she owned and drawing down her pension.

She would occasionally travel by train to London to give money to a couple.

Janet travelled to after she was contacted out of the blue in 2018 by Daniel “Kofi” Anyapong, 52, who told her he wanted to help her get her money back.

Martin only discovered his mum was travelling to Ghana when her visa was delivered to his home.

Despite her son’s attempts to talk her out of it Janet went ahead with the trip and would tragically die when the car she was in flipped and hit a tree near Accra, Ghana.

Anyapong was the motor when it veered off the road and escaped the crash with only minor injuries.

However, her family say there are a number of inconsistencies surrounding the accident, including differing reports on the position of the car, the timing of the crash, and a pathologist’s report into what killed her.

Janet travelled to Ghana in 2018 in the hope of reclaiming some of her lost money Credit: Neil Hope Martin’s wife Mel said her husband hasn’t gotten over the trauma of seeing the videos the scammer sent him Credit: Neil Hope

Martin, his wife Mel, 37, and Janet’s other daughter all believe the circumstances of her death raise further questions.

Anyapong, who was fined for a driving offence, sent Martin three videos after the crash.

One showed medics performing CPR on Janet, another showed her body on a mortuary table and a third showed her body in a mortuary drawer.

Martin was then asked for £10,000 to cover hospital fees.

Martin’s wife told The Times : “Martin hasn’t necessarily dealt with the trauma of opening those videos.

“Nothing in the world can prepare you for that.”

Last week a coroner said it was “possible” that Anyapong had been involved in scamming Janet, but there was no direct evidence linking him.

Martin and his wife believe Janet was murdered. They said: “After the autopsy they kept a quarter of her brain, the only bit that could definitely tell us how she died.

“The British pathologist said she had severe head injuries but the thing that killed her was a blow to the back of the head that wasn’t normal in a car crash. It was something small she was hit with — nothing in the car would do that damage.

The British High Commission and National Agency initially said the Ghanaian were treating Janet’s death as a murder inquiry – that was later found to be false.

Martin’s wife added: “It’s just too much of a coincidence. It beggars belief that the one thing which could tell exactly how she died was missing.

“The Ghanaian pathologist said there were contusions on the brain, but the pathologist couldn’t find them.”

The retired housekeeper is estimated to have lost £1million Credit: Neil Hope Janet’s family believe she was ‘being controlled’ while she was in Ghana Credit: Neil Hope

While she was in Ghana Janet was reportedly taking out money from an ATM every day and messaging Martin.

The family grew suspicious when one of the messages spelt her granddaughter’s name wrong.

Martin grew concerned by his mum’s erratic behaviour after receiving videos featuring Anyapong and messages with obvious spelling mistakes.

Her daughter-in-law said she believed she was probably “being controlled.”

Kofi later told police after she died that he had been in a relationship with Janet for five years, an inquest heard.

In total, cops estimated she lost between £800,000-£1million.

and Cornwall Police told an inquest last week that they concluded no third party was involved in the crash.

Anyapong told the Mail Online . “I think about what happened every day. It was an accident. She wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. If she had put it on she would have survived. I should have checked.

“Janet was only happy when she was in Ghana with me. They just want to tarnish my image.

“I was not covered by any and have no money to pay for the hospital and medical . They need to know I loved Janet so much. I was holding her as she was dying.”