A 73-year-old woman in the United States was duped into sending at least $20,000 (16,98,038.00) to a scammer posing as an MSNBC news anchor.

According to the New York Post, Patricia Taylor of Seattle began a month-long conversation on Facebook earlier this year with someone posing as Emmy-winning journalist Ari Melber, who hosts the nightly show "The Beat with Ari Melber" on MSNBC. The 73-year-old woman was convinced she was talking to the news host.

However, the scammer who operated the Facebook account exploited it.

20,000 dollars worth of lime

According to the post, Taylor, a former Boeing employee, was duped of at least $20,000 by November 1. The fake news anchor initially asked her to send money and gift cards to treat her sick dog Penny. The fraudster allegedly lured her by saying that they were in love and were going to get married. The fraudster also sent the 73-year-old woman an engagement ring.

Last Monday, Taylor traveled from Seattle to New York to meet the man she thought was an MSNBC host. Her trip included a stop in Portland, where a relative tracked her cell phone and stopped her.

Taylor's daughter, Mary Taylor, 73, believed that if her mother reached New York, the thug would meet her, take her hostage and demand a ransom for her release.

Daughter suspected fraud

According to Mary Taylor, when her mother suspected that she was being scammed, the fraudster messaged her saying, “Since when did Ari Melber become a fraud?” The fraudster also used an AI-generated voice message that sounded like the anchor speaking.

The fake mailer said in the voice note, "You are reading my messages and not replying. I will never cheat you. Have you found someone else?"

The daughter reported that the family intervened twice with Patricia Taylor to convince her that the man she was speaking to was not the real Melber.

Mary said, Our mother is not stupid. How could she believe that? How could she not understand what was happening? You try to explain the logic and it doesn't make sense.

The person pretended to be a news anchor

"She is not in the right mind, not taking her medications and cancelling doctors' appointments. She is not taking care of her food (she is diabetic) and sometimes does not change her clothes for days," he wrote separately on Facebook.

Mary also said she worries her mother might still try to meet the man pretending to be the news anchor.

Scammers usually target the elderly. Citing a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) report, the Post said that fraud involving the elderly generates an estimated $3 billion in illegal income annually.