During their relationship, Barbara had sent him over £150,000 and sadly had to sell her home to cover the debt. On the BBC programme For Love or Money on Monday, Kym Marsh and Ashley John-Baptiste tried to track down the culprits behind this online romance fraud in an effort to help Barbara draw a line under this horrific chapter in her life.
After losing her husband in 2011, Barbara was encouraged by her friends to join a dating site to help her move on.
In 2012, she met Frank Wadsworth. She claims he told her he was a 60-year old security officer for the US secret service based in Ghana with a 10 year old son.
She was drawn to Frank as he sounded like her ideal man. She soon “fell in love with him”.
Within a year of them speaking, Barbara claims Frank started to ask her for money.
READ MORE: ‘A lot of suffering and trauma’ – Retiree in ‘shock’ after sharing details with scammers
He would ask her to help him send money over so he could buy some gold.
She said: “Whilst he was in Ghana, he wanted to buy some gold, and insurance for lawyers, different things to get it out the…