And I felt I was all duded up to meet this guy, and just looking forward to it.
And I had my hair done, I had my nails done.
And I sat all night waiting for the phone call that never came.
[00:00:28] Bob: Welcome back to The Perfect Scam.
I’m your host, Bob Sullivan.
Sometimes the love you give someone doesn’t come back to you.
We’ve all had our hearts broken like that.
But Kate Kleinert’s heartbreaker, a man named Tony, also took just about all her money.
[00:01:25] Bob: Tell me about your husband.
And he delivered the food three times a week, so I got to see him.
(laugh) And things just developed so.
[00:01:41] Bob: So who asked who out?
[00:01:43] Kate Kleinert: He asked me.
Definitely, but I think he knew I was going to say yes.
Actually, they moved back to the neighborhood where Kate lived as a small child.
[00:01:44] Bob: Oh my gosh.
He was my bestest friend in the world.
It was a wonderful situation.
Married for 26 years, and then he got cancer.
[00:02:54] Bob: I’m so sorry.
So we spent as much time as possible together.
[00:03:12] Bob: Wow, what a love affair.
[00:03:15] Bob: Kate has three sisters.
They are all close.
Susan beams when she talks about Kate.
[00:03:27] Susan: Kate has just a flair to make something very ordinary into something extraordinary.
And I, I don’t have it, so I always admired that in her.
[00:03:42] Bob: And Susan knows how hard these last few years have been for Kate.
[00:03:47] Susan: Yes.
Uh not something that everybody could do.
I’m not sure I could have done that.
[00:04:06] Bob: Time eased the pain, but not the hole in her heart.
Kate can’t imagine being with anyone else, even a decade after her husband’s death.
I always considered myself still married.
Now Kate gets all kinds of friend requests all the time, but this one is different.
[00:04:47] Kate Kleinert: I always ignore them.
[00:05:30] Bob: So they start talking and very quickly, things become intensely romantic.
Tony says he is from Norway.
Kate can’t quite place his accent.
But right now, he’s working for the United Nations in the Middle East.
Kate just knows he sounds wonderful.
And he sends her the most beautiful messages.
I can only see my future with you.
I will never stop loving you.
I pray that I will always wake up next to you and hold you in my arms forever.
When I am with you, I just want to cuddle till I fall asleep.
I was worried about living a lonely life until I met you.
You are the joy and light in my life.
Thank you for loving me from your heart.
Thank you for being there for me, and thank you for loving me so much.
I love you; I love you; I will love you forever.
Words are not enough to say thanks to you for being with me.
You are the kindest soul who makes my life beautiful in love.
My greatest fantasies are the ones that start with you and end with you.
I love you truly, madly, and deeply.
When I first saw you, I was afraid to meet you.
When I met you, I was afraid to like you.
When I liked you, I was afraid to love.
Now that I love you, I’m afraid to lose you."
[00:07:24] Bob: Okay, that last bit, that just sounds like poetry.
[00:07:27] Kate Kleinert: It does.
[00:07:27] Bob: What did you think when you heard that or read that?
[00:07:30] Kate Kleinert: Oh, it just made my heart sore.
I haven’t heard things like that in a long time, and it was just so beautiful.
And we talked to each other five or six times a day for, for months say for that.
[00:07:49] Kate Kleinert: No, it was immediate.
[00:07:51] Bob: Immediate.
Okay, and what was um, what did you think when you heard his voice?
[00:07:56] Kate Kleinert: How wonderful he sounded.
How nice it was to talk with a man again.
As a single dad, there are some issues that he could really use some help with.
A woman’s help.
But he said, no, no, he was the same age.
But his daughter emailed me, and she needed some supplies for that.
So, of course, I did.
You know, it sounded logical to me.
If they didn’t have money; they couldn’t be robbed or what have you.
That made sense to me too.
[00:09:57] Bob: And you were obviously being compassionate to what you thought was a young woman.
[00:10:01] Kate Kleinert: Yes.
And um, so yeah, I was feeling compassionate.
[00:10:13] Bob: Tony also has a son, and Kate starts to email with him too.
Tony asks Kate if she will send him something.
So they were there and bored.
So that made sense, and I sent him a card.
As summer turns to fall, and then holiday season approaches, things progress quickly.
Tony starts talking about making a trip to Philadelphia so he can meet Kate’s family.
But along the way, he needs help.
There was a ring.
[00:13:37] Bob: What was the largest amount that you had sent to him?
[00:13:51] Kate Kleinert: $39,000.
[00:13:53] Bob: Wow.
That’s a lot of money.
[00:13:54] Kate Kleinert: Yes, it is.
She’d finally get to unveil her secret.
This was so exciting.
And I waited and waited and waited.
[00:15:54] Bob: And you, you had on something festive too, right?
This is a big day.
[00:15:57] Kate Kleinert: Yes, yeah.
[00:15:58] Bob: Do you remember what you were wearing?
And I felt I was all duded up to meet this guy, and just looking forward to it.
And I had my hair done, I had my nails done.
And I sat all night waiting for the phone call that never came.
[00:17:07] Kate Kleinert: Yes, I was.
Waiting for my new life to begin.
[00:17:14] Bob: The phone never rang that night.
Instead, a different kind of phone call comes in the morning.
And he was supposed to be the lawyer, Tony’s lawyer.
That there were drugs in his bag.
[00:18:06] Kate Kleinert: Uh get $20,000.
And at this point, he had wrung me dry of money.
I mean I didn’t have a lot to begin with.
“Well can’t you get it from somewhere?
Can you, can you get a–, another mortgage on your house?
Can you get a loan?”
And anyway, “Ask somebody in your family.”
And um, my family didn’t even know about him.
She thinks about being alone again during the holidays, but this time, really alone because of COVID.
And she has no idea what to do next.
[00:19:38] Bob: Where does she turn?
That’s next week on The Perfect Scam.
Call the AARP Fraud Watch online grid Helpline at 877-908-3360.
Their trained fraud specialists can provide you with free support and guidance on what to do next.
Be sure to find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
For AARP’s The Perfect Scam, I’m Bob Sullivan.
A few months later, Tony asks to borrow money, initially for help with his daughters expenses.
