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- author, George King
- position, BBC News, Safic
Roderick Lodge had been living alone since the death of his wife in 2019 when he suddenly fell in love again and decided to move thousands of miles from the UK to Kenya to marry.
Roderick, 69, is a former United Nations employee and a resident of the British territory of the Pacific. To alleviate his loneliness, his friend in Kenya put him in touch with a ‘lady’ named Anita.
After forming a relationship with Anita on social media, Roderick feels like he has fallen in love again for the first time since his wife’s death.
Forced by this love, Roderick decided to move to Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.
But Roderick doesn’t know that this love is a fraud that will lead them down the road. Falling victim to this fraud, he sent his life savings of 85,000 pounds to his beloved in Kenya, a beloved who in reality did not exist.
“She said she owned a four-bedroom house but I had to give her a dowry to get married, so I took on the responsibility of decorating the house,” Roderick told the BBC.
‘I started sending her money to (renovate) various parts of the house and she would send me photos of the house and sometimes personal photos.’
‘She told me she was the managing director of a beauty products company with 30 employees, so I thought she was a capable woman.’
Roderick learns of his fraud when he arrives in Kenya to meet his bride-to-be. When they landed at the airport, the ‘lady’ was nowhere to be found and as Roderick stepped up his efforts to meet Anita, he heard repeated excuses.
After a bit of investigation, Roderick finally learns that the friend who put him in touch with Anita is behind the fraud.
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“We had an agreement that we would have a detailed meeting in Nairobi, but it didn’t happen because it was a fraud and Anita didn’t exist,” says the former UN employee.
Referring to his friend, Roderick said, ‘He is very evil, but I was also a fool and I am paying a terrible price. I felt that Anita had her own existence, I am ashamed.’
Roderick spent three days at Heathrow Airport on his return to the UK from Nairobi and is now living in a homeless shelter in Woking.
He says that he has no hope in his life anymore. ‘After losing my wife I became vulnerable because I wanted a partner and a better quality of life.’
‘Now my future is ruined, I have no life left. I have no family, only friends who call me an idiot.’
Roderick says he doesn’t have a whip anymore and ‘I hope that devil woman (friend) burns in hell.’
“It’s a sad story,” says Martin Richardson, senior partner at Richardson Partley law firm. Roderick was in a vulnerable position and was taken advantage of.’
Calling it ‘romance fraud,’ Martin says, ‘It’s more dangerous because it not only causes financial hardship to the victim, but emotional hardship as well.’
He adds that ‘I think the authorities at the bank where Roderick sent his money to Kenya should have asked Roderick more questions about what he was doing.’
‘Roderick’s life has been ruined by this fraud but we are doing everything we can to get his money back,’ says Martin.
The UK’s National Fraud and Cybercrime Reporting Center has also published guidance on its website to help people recognize ‘romance fraud’.
The guidelines state that you should never send money to someone without meeting them, never give anyone access to your bank account, never take out a loan for anyone, and never share your personal documents with anyone.
