Posted May 15, 2022, 4:33 pm
Jeanne Aikens was a widow in her late 60s when she found a new love. Or so she thought.
Aikens had nursed her husband through Parkinson’s disease until his
death a few years earlier, and she was ready to start dating again.
Aikens, a nursing manager at Boston Children’s Hospital, met a man
called “Logan” through a dating site in 2018 and found they had a shared
interest in running for fitness. Or so she thought.
Over a few months, they became friendly online, through text messages
and phone calls. “Logan” professed his love for her, and they planned
to meet in Boston, not far from her New Hampshire home. But first, he
needed money.
Spinning a tale of being delayed in Great Britain on a work trip and
needing cash, he persuaded Aikens to wire him money several
times—eventually totaling more than $200,000. Her family tried to warn
her, her banker questioned the withdrawals, a co-worker was aghast, but
Aikens stood by her love.
“I wasn’t worried about the funds because he always said he would pay
it back. He always agreed,” she said in a phone interview from her new
home in Arizona. “He asked me to send him a spreadsheet with an
accounting of all of the funds. What was I to worry about? I sent him a
spreadsheet.”
But eventually, the plot unraveled, leaving Aikens embarrassed,
ashamed and poorer. She hopes by telling her story she can help others
avoid similar circumstances.
She has…
