Below is how WA Today is reporting it...
A widowed grandmother who travelled to South Africa
to marry the man she loved has been found dead under suspicious circumstances
in a Johannesburg guest house.
West Australian woman Jette Jacobs, 67 (pictured
left), was found in February, two days after she met up with a man calling
himself Jesse Orowo Omokoh, 28. (pictured right) The pair had met on an online dating website.
Ms Jacobs had travelled to Africa to meet the
Nigerian before, in a long distance relationship spanning three years and
seeing the widow part with $200,000.
But this time they were to be married. She wanted to
settle in Nigeria. Her children had begged her to stay in WA. Her body was
discovered in her rented villa by South African police on February 9.
Click to read more after the cut...
Mr Omokoh, who would report to being the last person
to see her alive, vanished after speaking to police.
One of Ms Jacobs' six children, who did not want to
be identified, told 6PR radio in Perth on Monday her mother had been to South
Africa four times, initially to meet another man.
"She wasn't naive when it came to other
countries, we lived in Malaysia for many years," she said.
When the woman's brother received a phone call from
a South African guest house, the siblings who had warned their mother against
what they believed was a scam relationship, were in disbelief.
"I thought it was a hoax and I wouldn't believe
that my mother had actually passed so I rang the consulate," the woman
said.
"A couple of hours later they called me back
and gave me their apologies."
A joint operation between WA Police and Consumer
Protection, codenamed Project Sunbird, had sent Ms Jacobs a letter warning that
she may be the victim of fraud, but it was too late.
By the time the letter arrived in Ms Jacobs' mailbox
she had already left for her ill-fated trip.
When her children met with detectives in South
Africa, they discovered her money, jewellery, laptop and credit cards were all
missing.
And then there was an empty pill bottle found near
her.
"Anybody who knew my mother would know that
there is no way that she would do that," her daughter told 6PR.
"This has gone on for four years and after four
years there is a very strong element of trust that has been built."
One of Ms Jacobs' sons warned others not to head
overseas to meet people they've met online.
"It could be a one-way ticket," he said.
Major fraud squad detective Dom Blackshaw said WA
Police were now involved in the investigation and treating the death as
"suspicious".
"These relationship frauds are being
perpetrated by ruthless overseas criminals who are members of organised crime
syndicates," he said.
"To travel to Africa to visit someone you have
met on the internet is extremely dangerous and could, as in the case of Ms.
Jacobs, cost your life.
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