{"id":231331,"date":"2026-04-14T15:00:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T15:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/231331\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T15:00:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T15:00:06","slug":"victim-swindled-of-400k-in-dating-scam-as-florida-touts-800m-recovered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/231331\/","title":{"rendered":"Victim swindled of $400k in dating scam as Florida touts $800M recovered"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MARION COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/topic\/Attorney%20General%20James%20Uthmeier\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier<\/a> announced on Tuesday that his office has recovered over $800 million for Floridians, highlighting his dedication to fighting fraud and supporting victims.<\/p>\n<p>During the announcement, Uthmeier discussed a case involving scams on dating sites, which particularly affect seniors.<\/p>\n<p> He mentioned an incident in <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/topic\/Marion%20County\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Marion County<\/a> where a victim lost over $400,000 to a scammer who posed as a romantic interest. &#8220;If it seems too good to be true, it probably is,&#8221; he cautioned, urging the public to be cautious of anyone asking for money online.<\/p>\n<p>Uthmeier also revealed that the investigation uncovered over $5 million linked to scams from these dating websites, describing it as one of the largest cyber fraud operations in the United States. <\/p>\n<p>He made this announcement alongside Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods and Chief Assistant Statewide Prosecutor John Paul.<\/p>\n<p>See also: <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/florida\/florida-attorney-general-asks-census-bureau-to-revisit-2020-count-saying-state-was-underc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">AG Uthmeier urges Census Bureau to revisit 2020 count, says Florida was undercounted<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Uthmeier emphasized the collaborative efforts of law enforcement and legal organizations in Florida, stating, &#8220;We&#8217;re all working toward the same goal, rowing in the same direction.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Since taking office just over a year ago, Uthmeier mentioned that his team has been actively combating scams and fraud, many of which occur online.<\/p>\n<p>He pointed out that more than $20 million of the recovered funds came from the newly established Cyber Fraud Enforcement Unit, which targets cybercrimes that have become increasingly common on social media and digital platforms. Uthmeier urged law enforcement agencies throughout Florida and beyond to enhance their technology and strategies to tackle online fraud.<\/p>\n<p>As Florida aims to be the top retirement destination in the country, Uthmeier stressed the importance of protecting seniors from fraud, stating, &#8220;We want to be a great destination for you in the last phase of your life. But we\u2019re going to protect you.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MARION COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced on Tuesday that his office has recovered&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-231331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}