A 73-year-old Seattle-area grandmother was duped into sending at least $20,000 by a scam artist posing as MSNBC anchor Ari Melber.
Patricia Taylor, a former Boeing employee and an avid watcher of the Comcast-owned cable news channel, began a months-long dialogue on Facebook earlier this year with someone pretending to be Melber, the Emmy-winning journalist who hosts the nightly show “The Beat with Ari Melber” on MSNBC.
Taylor was convinced she was speaking with the MSNBC host, which was exploited by the poseur operating the Facebook account, according to KING 5 News in Seattle.
Last Monday, Patricia Taylor flew from Seattle to New York to meet the man she thought was the MSNBC host, according to the news station.
Taylor’s trip included a layover in Portland, where a relative intercepted her by tracking her cell phone, KING 5 reported.
Meri Taylor said she believed that if her mother landed in New York, the scam artist would have met her and taken her hostage and demanded a ransom in exchange for her release.
“They’d see how much money they could get out of us.”
The Marysville, Washington police department has launched an investigation.
An MSNBC spokesperson declined to comment.
The fake Melber asked Patricia Taylor to send him money and gift cards to treat his sick dog, Penny.
“My mom is saying, ‘You’re on TV. Don’t you have money?’” Taylor’s son, Joey Taylor, told KING 5.
“He tells her he doesn’t have access to this money,” said Joey. “He tells her that it’s for Penny. ‘Please don’t let Penny die.’”
According to Taylor’s daughter, Meri, her mother sent the fake Melber at least $20,000 as of Nov. 1.
“There could be more,” Meri Taylor told KING 5.
As if that weren’t nefarious enough, Patricia Taylor was seduced by the scammer into thinking they were in love and going to get married.
The scam artist sent Patricia Taylor an engagement ring that Meri Taylor said was worth $30.
Patricia Taylor grew suspicious that she was being duped, prompting the fake Melber to text her: “When did Ari Melber turn into a scammer?”
The fraudster then used an AI-generated voice message that resembled the sound of Melber speaking.
“You’re reading my messages and not responding. I’d never (scam) you. Have you found someone else?” the fake Melber is heard saying.
According to Meri Taylor, the family staged two interventions with Patricia Taylor in an effort to convince her that the individual she was communicating with was not the real Melber.
“Our mother is not a dumb person,” Meri Taylor told KING 5, noting that Patricia Taylor worked at Boeing and the University of Washington before retiring.
“”How did she fall for this? How did she not see what was going on? You try to explain the logic and it doesn’t sink in.”
The family is concerned that Patricia Taylor may still try to meet with the individual posing as Melber.
“We just want our mom back,” Joey Taylor told KING 5.
Scam artists frequently target the elderly. According to the FBI, elder fraud generates $3 billion in ill-gotten gains annually.
