In his steadfast search for companionship after the death of his wife Pauline in 2019, Rodrick Lodge has found himself meeting the cruel brutality of Kenyan scammers.
He is now a shadow of his former self and the 69-year-old from Leiston, Suffolk England has only himself to blame for being defrauded by his ‘fiancee’ who turned out to be a ghost.
The latest victim of romance scams, he has now lost as much as Sh. 14 million from his transactions with this woman who never existed. Above all, Lodge claims to have lost nearly all hope for the future.
Mr Lodge said he got connected to the alleged fiancee through a female Kenyan acquaintance he met 3 years ago. The fake woman’s name is Anita.
The pair built a relationship on social media and for the first time since the death of his wife, Rodrick Lodge became vulnerable and fell in love with Anita. Soon, he agreed to move to Nairobi and marry her.
Little did he know this was a catfish ploy aimed at raking out all his entire life savings, leaving him with nothing.
“She said she had a 4-bedroom house but to get married I would need to give her dowry, so I agreed to do up her house for her, that was the agreement,” said the former UN employee.
“So I started sending her money for various parts of the home and she would send me pictures of the house being upgraded.”
He claims that the woman told her she works as a Managing Director of a beauty products company with about 30 workers. When the time came for Mr Lodge to come to Kenya and unite with his lover and bride-to-be, he was in for a rude shock.
The woman was nowhere to be found at the airport. Frantic efforts to meet up with her came with excuses after excuses. Thorough investigations followed and led him to the conclusion that his friend who allegedly ‘connected them’ was Anita.
I regret moving from Kenya to UK; I don’t know if I will survive the mess I am in
“The agreement was that we’d properly meet in Nairobi, but that never happened and it turned out to be a scam and Anita never existed,” he narrated.
“She is the worst of the worst, but I was an idiot and a fool, I know that, and now I am paying the terrible cost of that. I truly believe she existed. I’m embarrassed.”
Rodrick Lodge returned to the UK, with nothing to show for and nothing in his bank accounts. He slept in the cold at Heathrow Airport for 3 days before moving to a homeless shelter in Woking.
“After losing my wife, the most important person in my life, I was so vulnerable because I wanted a partner and quality of life. Now this has ruined my future life. I’ve got no life now and I have nothing to get up for,” he said.
“I have no family, only a few friends who call me an idiot. I am truly suffering because I have got zero. It has taken every penny I had.”