Australian woman is a person of interest in Ghana romance scam investigation
An Australian citizen identified for his alleged role as a physical surrogate who swindled an American man out of $700,000.
A Ghanaian law enforcement agency has revealed the alleged role and identity of an Australian woman in a sophisticated romance scam carried out in the West African nation of Ghana.
Ghana’s Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) told CBS News, during a broader investigation into romance scams affecting Americans, the story of how Rebecca Jade Silk allegedly became involved in a scam that reported her $700,000 to a 75-year-old radiologist.
The man, referred to anonymously in the report as “John,” was the victim of a Ghanaian scam syndicate boss named Alfred Kwame Ayivor, who had posed as an Australian woman living in the United States named Grace Erskine.
According to the CBS News report, Ghanaian scammers go to great lengths to build their online personas. They will operate in the correct time zone if necessary and conduct in-depth research on the countries they claim to be from.
After falling for the initial scam, John sensibly insisted on meeting Erskine in real life, which was when Ayivor hired an Australian woman to visit the man in the United States and impersonate Erskine. According to EOCO boss Gerald Kpangkpari, John even introduced Erskine to his family.
Erskine told John that he had inherited a Ghanaian gold mine and that he wanted to offer him a share in the mine so that the two would be together for life.
Ayivor then arranged a second meeting in Accra, Ghana’s capital, to finalize the deal and explained the plan to Silk.
“That’s the situation with John, a week in Ghana with Grace,” Ayivor told Silk.
“Disgusting. It’s so disgusting,” Silk allegedly said.
Ayivor insisted it was just “One week + TLC.”
“I’m not going to spread my legs,” Silk said.
Ayivor played the role of John’s driver during his visit to Accra to oversee the rest of the scam and Silk reprized her role as Erskine, staying in the same hotel as John for part of his visit.
After realizing what had happened to her, John’s daughter referred the matter to the FBI, which relayed what it was able to find out to EOCO. While the information was useful, what caught his attention was the amount of money Ayivor appeared to be earning despite being unemployed, according to Kpangkpari.
Ayivor was arrested in 2019 but fell ill and died before the case could go to trial, while the woman posing as Erskine appeared to disappear once the scam was completed. She was identified as an Australian woman named Rebecca Jade Silk. CBS News reporters found Silk in New South Wales in September 2024, although she declined to confirm or deny the Ghanaian allegations.
Ghana police still consider Silk a person of interest in their investigation.
