- When Donna Nelson first told her daughter Ashlee that she was talking to someone overseas, she was naturally a little hesitant
- The man booked Donna tickets to visit him in Japan, but the trip included a layover in Laos where Donna was requested to pick up a suitcase for him
- Soon after she landed in Japan with the suitcase, Donna was jailed for unknowingly smuggling drugs
- Now, Ashlee and her sisters are fighting to bring Donna home
Here Ashlee Charles, 39, Perth, WA, tells her story in her own words.
I’ve been talking to someone online,’ my mum, Donna Nelson, then 56, told me excitedly over the phone.
I was happy for Mum, but naturally suspicious. Mum was so kind-hearted and trusting, I worried about her meeting strangers on the internet.
‘Be careful,’ I said, warning her not to give personal information or bank details to anyone. ‘And don’t give any money or take any,’ I cautioned.
‘Of course not,’ she replied.
As both my sister Kristal, then 37, and I had met our husbands online, I could see why Mum was keen. And I knew she was a bright, intelligent woman.
She’d raised us and our younger sisters Janelle, then 32, Taylor, 23, and Shontaye, 18, since splitting from our dad in 2003. While Mum and my sisters all lived in Perth, I’d relocated to Brisbane, but we all spoke every day.
Mum, a proud Noongar woman had brought us up as fiercely strong independent women.
A former child protection worker, Mum was passionate about helping disadvantaged youth, and set up the charity Pioneers Aboriginal Corporation, using sport to help kids.
Mum, who had always been ardently anti-drugs, often took young people with troubled home lives into her own home.
When my sisters and I left home and created our families, Mum became a devoted grandma.
Still, Mum was lonely so she signed up to a dating website.
READ MORE: Sue Marcum: Scammed and slayed by her yoga teacher
Now, in June 2022, she gushed to me about a man named Kelly, who she’d met on the platform.
He was a divorced Nigerian fashion designer living in Japan, and he had three adult kids.
I was glad she’d found someone she could connect with.
Speaking to Kristal later on, I learned Mum and Kelly had been in contact since 2020.
‘She talks to him five times a day on video call,’ Kristal said, revealing she and my sisters had spoken to Kelly too.
‘She talks to him five times a day on video call.’
I realised Mum was more serious about Kelly than I’d thought. She confessed she’d kept her relationship under wraps from me, worried as I was often suspicious.
‘I want to know where he lives, what he does and all his details,’ I told her.
To ease my concerns, Mum sent me a photo of Kelly’s Japanese identity card. When I compared it against others online, it looked legitimate.
READ MORE: Cancer scammer: She lied to steal money for a boob job
Speaking to my sisters, when they told me Kelly had offered to fly Mum, Shontaye and Janelle out to Japan, it managed to put my mind at rest.
But when Kelly booked flights last minute for Mum in December, Shontaye and Janelle were unable to make the trip, so Mum had to go alone.
As he’d booked the tickets so late, Mum would have to stopover in Laos for a few days, before flying on to meet Kelly.
While she was in Laos, he asked her to pick up a suitcase sample that he was hoping to stock in his boutique in Osaka.
‘I love you,’ I said…wishing I didn’t have a niggling worry that something was wrong’
He’d been trying to find the right size and style for months, so Mum was only too happy to help now he’d found the perfect one.
Before she left Australia, Mum came to visit me.
Wanting to keep an eye on her while she was away, I insisted she download a tracking app on her phone.
‘I love you,’ I said, giving her a hug, wishing I didn’t have a niggling worry that something was wrong.
On December 29, Mum boarded her flight to Laos where she’d stay for three days. Shortly after arriving, she was struck down with food poisoning
On the day she was booked to fly out, she’d started to feel better.
READ MORE: Meet the crime-fighting nana hunting romance scammers!
Just 15 minutes before she was due to head back to the airport, Kelly’s business partner came to drop off the suitcase.
Opening it, Mum was shocked to see clothes inside and, questioning this, was told they were more samples for Kelly’s shop.
Rushing to the airport, when she landed at Narita International Airport in Japan, she sent a message to our group chat.
Freezing here! she wrote, as she waited to collect her bags.
But as time ticked on, we didn’t hear another word, and our calls and messages went unanswered.
‘What if Kelly hurt her?’
Maybe her phone is playing up or she’s sightseeing with Kelly, I thought.
But checking the tracking app constantly, it showed Mum was still at the airport.
Panic set in.
What if Kelly’s hurt her? I thought my mind going into overdrive.
‘What if something terrible has happened?’ my sisters said when they rang me.
Kristal and Janelle desperately called Singapore Airlines, but couldn’t find anything out.
Then messages began to come through from Kelly saying he’d been delayed from work and there was no sign of Mum at the airport.
Convinced something was very wrong and Kelly was to blame, after 10 hours with no word from Mum, I compiled everything I had on Kelly, and lodged a missing person’s report at my local police station.
When Kelly rang me while I was there, police monitored his phone call.
‘I’ve just left the airport. I’ve been looking for her for two hours,’ he said.
I didn’t buy it – it just didn’t add up.
‘You promised you’d look after her,’ I cried.
As hours turned into days we still hadn’t heard from Mum, and Kelly had stopped messaging.
None of us ate or slept, frantic that Mum had been kidnapped – or worse, worried if she was still alive.
Finally, three days later, Dad gathered my sisters together and called me.
He told us he’d been contacted by the Consular Emergency Centre in Canberra, who told him Mum had been arrested at the airport after two kilos of methamphetamine was found concealed in a false bottom of the suitcase she’d been given.
As we all reeled in shock, devastated, I knew Kelly was behind it.
He’d managed to lure in our naive mum with the promise of romance, duping her into becoming a drug mule
As she awaited trial, Mum was kept in solitary confinement in prison.
She was given just 30 minutes of fresh air a day and could only contact us through her lawyer.
Me and my sisters blamed ourselves for letting Mum go on the trip, and were heartbroken hearing Mum had fallen to her knees when she found out what she thought was love was actually a scam.
But Kelly had spent years love-bombing Mum, exploiting her loneliness, and promising her a wedding that he’d design the outfits for.
As months passed we worked extra to pay Mum’s mortgage, determined not to lose the house she’d worked so hard for.
In July 2024, Kristal flew to see Mum, but only her three-year-old daughter was allowed to go in with Mum’s lawyer. In November 2024, we all flew to Japan for Mum’s trial at Chiba District Court. It was two years since I’d seen her and, in handcuffs and chains, she seemed so small and frail. It broke my heart.
I was Mum’s only witness, hoping that explaining the depths of Kelly’s scam would help free her.
Despite the court accepting Mum’s claim she was the innocent victim of a love scammer, and was tricked into carrying the bag containing drugs, they stated she should have recognised the red flags.
Upon her arrival in Japan, she’d also told officials she was visiting for business, which the court factored into their decision. Too embarrassed to admit she was there for love, that snap decision Mum made was one she deeply regretted.
She was sentenced to six years in jail and given a one million yen – nearly $9000 – fine.
We were all devastated.
When Mum’s appeal at the Tokyo High Court failed last September, it was a terrible blow.
Now, with support from WA premier Roger Cook, Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong, and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade team in Japan, we’re fighting to have Mum transferred to a prison in Perth, to serve the remainder of her sentence on home soil.
While Mum spends her days behind bars, Kelly is still at large, likely deceiving and duping other women. Kristal and I have spent hours trawling dating sites, desperate to bring Kelly to justice.
Mum is recognised as a victim, but is paying the heartbreaking price for trusting someone she loved.
She’s desperate that her story makes other women aware of the dangers of romance scams.
Me, my sisters and her four grandchildren, aged from five months to 17, miss and love her so much.
We won’t stop fighting until Mum’s home.
Avoid love scams online:
To keep yourself safe online, Scamwatch recommends the following precautions:
Never send money, bank or card details, personal information or identity documents to someone you’ve only met online.
If you have a photo of the person, do a reverse image search to see if the same picture is online in other places, with different names or details.
Never send nude photos or sexually intimate photos or videos to people you don’t know. Scammers can use them to threaten and blackmail.
Don’t keep online relationships secret. Tell people you trust – it can be easier for someone else to spot things that don’t seem right.
Take things slowly. Ask lots of questions and watch for things that don’t add up.
