An 80-year-old American by the name of Diana Christine Nelson had her heart broken into shreds after travelling over 10,000 km from the United States of America to meet her online lover in Ghana’s capital, Accra.
Despite strong warnings by her son that she was being scammed, Diana, blinded by love, did not see all the red flags and could not believe that she was falling prey to a romance scam.
Read the details of the investigator’s record shared below:
Dateline: Crestline, California, 2023: Diana Christine Nelson, born Nov 23, 1944, while on Facebook, met a man she believed was Mark Harmon, the American actor, for that is how this man identified himself.
His real name however, is Emmanuel Adeboye, a Nigerian and now the key suspect in this elaborate romance scam.
Adeboye had requested friendship, and soon he was chatting his way into Diana’s heart.
Over time their chats became very engaging, and Diana was head over heels in this new love chapter opening in her life.
So enduring were the chats that her online engagement could not escape the attention of her son, Blake Medina. A momentary pry was enough for him – mom, you must stay away, this is a scam.
Diana appeared to have heeded the good counsel and put a halt to it, however, by June 2024, she was back at it as her lover kept sending love notes.
The pair continued their virtual romance, culminating, upon the insistence of Adeboye, aka Mark Harmon, in Diana travelling to Accra, Ghana, via Delta flight 156 from JFK to Kotoka on November 22.
Adeboye had sent her the image of a fake $25,000 cheque with which he had waived away any challenges with financing their love life. With that difficulty ‘resolved’, Adeboye convinced Diana to facilitate a reverse mortgage on her home and she obtained $15,000, some of which she used to acquire a passport and facilitate her travel.
On the travel date, Adeboye had promised to pick her up at the Kotoka International Airport, instead, it was Esther, now a suspect and also remanded in police custody, who showed up.
She is alleged to have told the old lady that she had been instructed by Adeboye to fetch her home where he would soon join her. Diana obliged, and together with Esther were chauffeured to a ‘penthouse’ in Tema, near Accra.
That ‘penthouse’, Diana’s description of her new home, was to be her ‘prison.’
Mark Harmon (Adeboye) never showed up even at the Penthouse, instead, he communicated with her via phone.
Soon Diana was stripped of her phones, tablets and any gadgets, as well as her cash. She was restrained, and occasionally if she was taken out, it would be in the company of a couple of men and Esther. She was not allowed to interact with anyone.
Medina, Diana’s son, last saw his mom on November 16 and was not aware she had travelled. On November 30, he discovered that her mom’s house was listed for sale online. He went to check on her and then discovered his mom had travelled to Ghana.
