Australian woman is a person of interest in Ghana romance scam investigation

Australian national identified for alleged role as physical surrogate in US$700,000 scam from American.

A Ghanaian law enforcement agency has revealed the alleged role and identity of an Australian woman in a sophisticated romance scam run from the West African country of Ghana.

The Ghana Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) told CBS News, amid a broader investigation into romance scams plaguing Americans, the story of how Rebecca Jade Silk was allegedly involved in a scam that netted a 75-year-old radiologist $700,000.

The man – referred to anonymously in the report as “John” – was the victim of a Ghanaian scam syndicate boss called Alfred Kwame Ayivor, who posed as an Australian living in the United States named Grace Erskine .

According to the CBS News report, Ghanaian scammers go to great lengths to create their online persona. They will operate in the correct time zone if necessary and conduct extensive research on the countries they claim to be from.

After falling for the initial scam, John wisely insisted on meeting Erskine in real life, which is when Ayivor hired an Australian woman to visit the man in the United States and pose as for Erskine. According to EOCO chief Gerald Kpangkpari, John even introduced Erskine to his family.

Erskine told John that she had inherited a Ghanaian gold mine and wanted to offer him a stake in the mine to put them together for life.

Ayivor then held a second meeting in the Ghanaian capital of Accra to finalize the deal and explained the plan to Silk.

“This is where we are with John, a week in Ghana with Grace,” Ayivor told Silk.

“Ugh. He’s so disgusting,” Silk reportedly said.

Ayivor insisted it was just “one week + TLC.”

“I don’t open his 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 his 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 took the matter to the FBI, who passed what he learned to EOCO. Although the information was useful, it was the amount of money Ayivor appeared to be earning despite his unemployment that caught their attention, 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 over. 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 refused to confirm or deny the Ghanaian allegations.

Ghanaian police still consider Silk a person of interest in their investigation.