{"id":32479,"date":"2025-11-04T08:19:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T08:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/32479\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T08:19:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T08:19:08","slug":"florida-residents-lost-118-million-to-data-breach-scams-in-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/32479\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida residents lost $118 million to data breach scams in 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Florida neighbors lost more than $118 million to data breach scams last year, almost double the losses from the year before, according to new FBI data analysis.<\/p>\n<p>Florida Lost $118M to Data Breach Scams: How AI Makes Fraud Worse<\/p>\n<p>The analysis from digital forensics firm <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/cncintel.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">CNC Intelligence<\/a> shows the Sunshine State ranks third nationwide for scam losses tied to personal data breaches, just below Washington D.C. and Washington state.<\/p>\n<p>About 5,500 Florida residents were affected, with an average loss of $22,000 each.<\/p>\n<p>Cryptocurrency drove most of the increase, accounting for $94 million of total losses. When scammers demanded crypto payments, the average loss jumped to $94,000 each.<\/p>\n<p>Recent Florida data breaches include Doctors Imaging Group, which exposed information for 172,000 patients last month.<\/p>\n<p>Experts say stolen data combined with AI and deepfakes help scammers create convincing stories.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The growing trade in stolen data &#8211; combined with advances in AI and deepfakes &#8211; means that scammers can now craft highly personalized and convincing stories,&#8221; said Matthew Stern, CEO of CNC Intelligence.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Combined with the rapid growth of scams involving cryptocurrency, this has created a perfect storm.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Stern recommends taking precautions before sending money.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Slow down, double-check everything, and talk to someone you trust before sending money,&#8221; Stern said. &#8220;It&#8217;s much easier to prevent a scam than to try and clean up the damage afterward.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;ve already been scammed, don&#8217;t stay silent, Stern said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Report it to your local police or cybercrime unit, and contact your bank or exchange right away,&#8221; Stern said. &#8220;The sooner the information is documented, the better the chances that investigators and forensic specialists can trace where the assets went.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Stern also recommends filing a report at <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fox4now.com\/news\/local-news\/ic3.gov\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ic3.gov<\/a>, which helps law enforcement connect related cases and identify organized networks behind the scams.<\/p>\n<p>This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida neighbors lost more than $118 million to data breach scams last year, almost double the losses from&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5966,22905,28,30,29,5854],"class_list":["post-32479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-cryptocurrency","tag-data-breach-scams","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-scams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32479","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=32479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}