A British woman who was scammed of up to £1m in a string of so-called “romance frauds” died in a road crash after travelling to west Africa to try to recoup some of her lost fortune, an inquest in Devon has heard.

Janet Fordham, 69, was cheated of her life savings and her home over five years by fraudsters apparently based in the UK, Germany, the US and Ghana, the inquest in Exeter was told.

Fordham, a retired housekeeper, travelled to Ghana after a man there told her he could help her get some of her money back but she was killed in a car crash while driving there.

Members of Fordham’s family and Devon and Cornwall police said they had tried to stop her sending money to scammers but she had been judged to be of sound mind and could not be forced to desist.

Fordham’s daughter-in-law, Melanie Fordham, said she had begun using online dating websites in 2017 and met a man claiming to be a British army sergeant major working in Syria who needed her help to get gold bars to the UK.

“He was retiring soon to return to the UK,” Melanie Fordham said. “She said they were in love and they were going to buy a house together. I remember saying to her that it all seemed a little unbelievable, and the next thing he would be asking for money. I told her categorically not to send him any.” But she is believed to have handed over about £150,000.

Later she was defrauded by a man claiming to be a diplomat. “I think she realised that she had been scammed, but initially struggled to accept it,” Melanie Fordham said. “We’re not clear how Janet transitioned from one fraud to the next. She transferred money by several means, including bank transfers, wire transfers at the post office, and potentially a travel agent.”

The inquest heard that Fordham was also contacted by a man in Ghana known as Kofi. He claimed he was a doctor and had found out she was being scammed when he came across her details while working part-time in a phone shop. Kofi told her he would help her get her money back and she flew to Accra in October 2022.

Melanie Fordham said: “I spoke to her doctor, sought legal advice, but because she was of sound mind, albeit brainwashed, she was deemed to have capacity and there was nothing we could do. She travelled with the intention and in the belief that she could retrieve some or all of that money.”

The relationship with the man appeared to develop into a romance and Fordham agreed to marry him, the inquest heard.

On Valentine’s Day in 2023 he was driving her to meet a family member to discuss the marriage when the car swerved and flipped on to its roof. Fordham was not wearing a seatbelt and was fatally injured.

Devon and Cornwall police concluded no third party was involved in the crash. The man admitted a driving offence.

DS Ben Smith told the inquest Fordham had been the victim of a “sustained fraud” between 2017 and 2022 and had sent an estimated £800,000 to £1m to fraudsters. He said she had sold her home and land and had been living in a caravan in Devon.

He said: “Police throughout these investigations have endeavoured to do everything they can to persuade Janet not to have any contact with the criminals and not to hand over money.”

Senior coroner Philip Spinney said there were “some inconsistencies and gaps in the evidence” about the crash and that the incident had not been rigorously scrutinised.

He said: “I conclude that Janet Fordham died as a consequence of a head injury that was probably sustained in a road traffic collision.”