A lonely American doctor who reportedly lost $1 million in an African romance scam involving a glamorous Australian swim school teacher has detailed how the extraordinary saga unfolded.
The 75-year-old radiologist from New York – who requested anonymity to protect his family’s privacy – first met a woman known as ‘Grace Jade Erskine’ on a dating website in November 2018.
The wealthy doctor told Daily Mail Australia the pair bonded and talked about everything from their childhood to their families and a possible future together.
But he was unaware that Grace never really existed, and was simply a fictional character created by a cunning professional con man named Alfred Ayivor from Ghana, West Africa.
Ghanaian organized crime authorities also allege that a 35-year-old Australian woman named Rebecca Jade Silk from Sydney’s northern beaches aided Ayivor in the plot by personally playing “Grace” to the doctor in both Ghana and the United States.
“I had my doubts about it all along,” the American medical professional told Daily Mail Australia in a candid interview.
“But she was very smooth, there were no mistakes.”
Ayivor, posing as ‘Grace’, texted the doctor daily for months in an attempt to make him believe he had a future with the stunning Australian.
Rebecca Jade Silk, a swim school teacher from Sydney’s northern beaches, is allegedly at the center of an elaborate romance scam involving fake lawyers and police escorts
The doctor, pictured above, believed he had a future with ‘Grace Erskine’ – but was sorely mistaken
Grace was supposedly an unemployed hairdresser and mining heiress who stood to inherit her father’s gold mining wealth.
As time went on, Grace brought up “business issues,” claiming that the gold her father left her was stuck in Ghana, and she could not get it back herself.
The doctor smelled a rat and insisted they meet in person.
“She was supposed to meet me in New York for Christmas 2018,” he explained.
‘When I went to pick her up from the airport and she wasn’t there, I got a frantic phone call from her ‘lawyer’ saying she had been detained for trying to bring out gold.
“They asked me to pay a $20,000 deposit and I said, ‘No way, she can pay it herself.’
The frustrated doctor, assuming it was probably a scam, thought this was the last time he would hear from Grace.
But then Ayivor contacted Silk – in Australia – to help him close the deal, authorities allege.
Bombshell texts released in law enforcement documents, first reported by CBS News and seen by Daily Mail Australia, show alleged WhatsApp message conversations between Silk and Ayivor in February 2019.
There, Silk, who lives with her parents on the Northern Beaches, asks the kingpin: “What’s my share?”
“How about $100,000,” Ayivor replied.
“$250,000,” Silk said. “Without me, everyone gets nothing.”
She then reportedly warned that she could push back on the apparent scam unless she was paid properly: “I could always call and say it was a scam.”
Rebecca Silk demanded more money for her part in the scam, according to text messages seen by Daily Mail Australia
In another series of messages with Ayivor, Silk describes her victim as ‘brutal’
Rendezvous in Africa and then in New York
With the deal seemingly complete, Silk headed to the Ghanaian capital Accra in March 2019 to meet the doctor.
“I went to meet her at Hotel Kempinski (in Accra) and she arrived with a police escort, I never imagined that. Very impressive,” he said.
“Of course she wasn’t who I expected.”
Before seeking Silk’s help, Ayivor had provided the doctor with photos of a porn star who looked very different from the Australian woman.
“She told me she was very private and because we had never met, she didn’t want to compromise,” he recalled.
“And when she was there, I chose to let that pass and see where it went.”
The pair enjoyed time by the pool and went out for dinner before Silk suddenly disappeared.
“She left a note in her apartment saying her aunt had died and had to leave to make funeral arrangements,” he said.
Silk shares her lavish lifestyle with her Instagram followers and often shows off her travels
It is not known how Rebecca allegedly became involved with African fraudsters, but Ghanaian authorities have obtained a series of WhatsApp messages between her and Alfred Ayivor. Alfred Ayivor, above, posed as a driver in Ghana to keep an eye on his alleged victim
The doctor first met Silk and posed with Grace Erskin at the Hotel Kempinski in Accra, Ghana
Silk at the doctor’s office in New York cooks food for him. The couple met in person twice.
The pair met again in July that year, when Silk was staying at the doctor’s house in New York.
In between those meetings, he had begun transferring huge sums of money for his share of the non-existent gold mine.
Candid photos on social media show Silk staying at his home and cooking for the doctor – while she shows off her international travels by posting photos of her lavish world trip to Instagram.
“I was trying to set up the companies and the legal requirements for releasing gold,” he explained.
‘They had arranged meetings with fake lawyers from Britain and it was a very complex process.’
But the alleged scam was foiled by Ghana’s Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) after his alarmed family called the FBI, resulting in an international investigation.
Alfred Ayivor was arrested, but died of an unknown illness before standing trial.
It was through his seized devices that conversations between him and Silk came to light.
Silk has not been charged with any criminal offences, but remains a person of interest to the Ghanaian police.
She did not respond when contacted by Daily Mail Australia, although her boyfriend, Tendia Tudela, claimed his girlfriend was unwilling to take part in the scam and did not benefit financially from it.
“They had something on her,” Mr. Tudela said.
“She didn’t get that money.”
As for the doctor, he said his family believed from the beginning that his alleged relationship was a scam.
“They reported it all,” he explained.
“I’m not angry about it anymore, but I would like some answers and some accountability from (Silk).”
The Australian Federal Police declined to comment, saying they cannot comment on investigations conducted by Ghanaian authorities.