MARYSVILLE, Wash. — A grandmother is the victim of a scam involving a popular cable TV host.
Her family says a man posing as an MSNBC anchor has swindled the unsuspecting senior out of tens of thousands of dollars.
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“We want to vomit,” said Meri Taylor, the victim’s daughter.
The Taylor family is sickened by the scam their mother has been dragged into, which has turned the family upside down.
Their 73-year-old mother Patricia is a big fan of cable news.
She is such a fan of MSNBC’s Ari Melber that she messaged him on Facebook, or thought she did.
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It turned out to be a fake profile.
The fake Melber started texting Patricia.
“You don’t want to be with me anymore,” one message read.
“Get a $500 Apple gift card,” another read.
Asking her to send him money and gift cards to treat his sick dog, Penny.
“My mom is asking, ‘Hey aren’t you on TV? …don’t you have money?’” Joey Taylor, Patricia’s son said.
“It’s for Penny, please don’t let Penny die,” the fake profile replied.
Joey said his mom has spent at least $20,000 on the fake Melber.
But the scam doesn’t stop there.
The family said over the past four months the scammer convinced Patricia they were in love and going to be married.
He even sent a ring.
“We find the ring. It’s a $30 ring,” Meri said.
When Patricia got suspicious the scammer doubled down.
The scammer created an AI-generated voice message that used Melber’s voice.
“You’re reading my messages and not responding. I’d never do that to you. Have you found someone else?” the AI-generated voice message said.
Patricia boarded a plane to New York City to meet her mystery man.
Fortunately, a relative intercepted her during a layover in Portland and brought her home.
Meri wonders what would have happened to her mother if she made it to New York.
“I believe they would have asked for some type of ransom for her,” she said.
All this despite two interventions with Patricia who worked at Boeing and the University of Washington for decades.
“How did she fall for this? how did she not see what was going on?” Meri said.
The Taylors fear their mom might try to meet up with the scammer again.
“We just want we just want our mom back,” Joey said.
MSNBC said the real Melber has no connection to the scammer.
The FBI last year more than 101,000 people 60 and older reported getting scammed.
That’s a 14 percent increase from the previous year.
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