A 73-year-old woman in the United States was duped into sending at least $20,000 to a scam artist posing as an MSNBC news anchor. According to the New York Post, Patricia Taylor from Seatle began a month-long dialogue on Facebook earlier this year with someone pretending to be Ari Melber, the Emmy-winning journalist who hosts the nightly show ‘The Beat with Ari Melber’ on MSNBC. The 73-year-old was convinced she was speaking with the news host. However, she was exploited by the scammer who was operating the Facebook account. 

According to the Post, Ms Taylor, a former Boeing employee, was duped of at least $20,000 as of November 1. The fake news anchor initially asked her to send money and gift cards to treat his sick dog, Penny. She was reportedly also seduced by the scammer into thinking they were in love and going to get married. The fraudster sent the 73-year-old an engagement ring as well. 

Last Monday, Ms Taylor even flew from Seatle to New York to meet the man that she thought was the MSNBC host. Her trip included a layover in Portland, where a relative intercepted her by tracking her cell phone. Meri Taylor, the 73-year-old’s daughter, believed that if her mother had landed in New York, the scam artist would have met her, taken her hostage and demanded ransom in exchange for her release. 

According to Meri Taylor, when her mother grew suspicious she was being duped, the fraudster texted her saying, “When did Ari Melber turn into a scammer?” The fraudster even used an AI-generated voice message that resembled the sound of the anchor speaking. “You’re reading my messages and not responding. I’d never (scam) you. Have you found someone else?” the fake Melber said in the voice note. 

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The daughter said that the family staged two interventions with Patricia Taylor in an effort to convince her that the individual she was talking to wasn’t the real Melber. “Our mother is not a dumb person. 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,” Ms Meri said. 

“She is not in her right mind, missing medication and cancelling doctors appointments. She is not taking care of herself with the food she eats (she is diabetic) and sometimes not changing her clothes for days at a time,” she separately wrote in a Facebook post. 

Ms Meri also added that she is concerned that her mother may still try to meet with the individual pretending to be the news anchor. 

Scam artists usually target the elderly. Citing the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) report, the Post said elder fraud generates $3 billion in ill-gotten gains annually. 

Mumbai:

A 77-year-old woman from Mumbai was kept under “digital arrest” for a month by cyber fraudsters who posed as law enforcement officials and made her transfer Rs 3.8 crore, claiming her Aadhaar card was used in a money laundering case.

The woman’s ordeal began a month ago when an unknown man made a WhatsApp call and told the victim that a parcel sent by her to Taiwan contained MDMA drugs, five passports, a bank card, and clothes.

When the homemaker, who lives with her retired husband in south Mumbai, told the caller that she didn’t send any parcel, the person said details of her Aadhaar card were used in the crime, a police official said on Wednesday.

The caller then connected the woman to a “Mumbai Police officer” who told her that her Aadhaar card was linked to a money laundering case under investigation.

“The caller asked the woman to download the Skype app and told her that police officers would talk to her. She was ordered not to disconnect the call and disclose the matter,” the official said.

Later, a man who identified himself as an IPS officer sought details of her bank accounts. Another man, claiming to be an IPS officer from the finance department, asked the woman to transfer money to bank accounts provided by them.

“They told her that the money would be returned if no illegality is found,” the official said.

The accused returned the Rs 15 lakh transferred by the woman, apparently to gain her trust.

“They subsequently asked the woman to send all her money from the joint bank accounts of her husband. She ended up transferring Rs 3.8 crore in several transactions to six bank accounts,” the official said.

The complainant suspected something was amiss when she didn’t get her money back even as the accused kept demanding more funds in the name of taxes to release the money she had transferred to them.

“The woman called up her daughter who lives abroad. Her daughter told her she was being conned and asked her to approach police,” the official said.

The woman subsequently dialled the cyber helpline number 1930, following which investigators froze the six bank accounts where the money was transferred, he said, adding that the crime branch was probing the case.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Noida:

A woman was duped of Rs 34 lakh here in a case of “digital arrest” by cyber criminals who threatened her with fake notices by the Enforcement Directorate, officials said on Sunday.

The fraudsters claimed that a parcel was being sent from Mumbai to Iran in her name containing five passports, two debit cards, two laptops, 900 US dollars, and 200 grams of narcotics, they said.

The victim received a call from the fraudsters at around 10 pm on August 8, she said in her complaint.

The Gautam Buddha cyber crime police station has registered a case and started an investigation into the matter, Inspector-in-charge Vijay Kumar Gautam said.

According to the complaint of Nidhi Paliwal, a resident of Sector-41, the fraudsters sent her a complaint via WhatsApp and asked her to send Rs 34 lakh.

An accused also video-called her on Skype with the video switched off, Paliwal said in her complaint.

Inspector Gautam said the accused also sent two notices to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), in which serious allegations were made against the victim. A probe on the matter is underway, he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)