{"id":366866,"date":"2026-08-09T14:28:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T14:28:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/366866\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T14:28:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T14:28:47","slug":"fraudsters-target-seniors-in-2-million-extortion-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/366866\/","title":{"rendered":"Fraudsters target seniors in $2 million extortion scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 According to investigators, the men contacted seniors and falsely claimed the victims were linked to online pornography and drug-related crimes. The suspects then demanded cash payments to resolve the fabricated legal trouble.<\/p>\n

At least 30 victims collectively lost more than $2 million in the scheme, with individual losses ranging from $44,000 to $200,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese victims are not wealthy individuals. They are not people who can afford to lose $44,000, $60,000, or $200,000 from their accounts,\u201d investigators said.<\/p>\n

The scheme comes amid a broader surge in fraud nationwide. According to the Federal Trade Commission, more than 30,000 fraud cases were reported in the second quarter of this year alone, with losses exceeding $200 million. The top categories included online shopping scams, business fraud, and government imposter schemes.<\/p>\n

Authorities are urging residents to remain vigilant. If you receive a call demanding cash or personal information under threat of legal action, hang up immediately and contact law enforcement.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here<\/a> to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

TOP STORIES FROM WFTV CHANNEL 9<\/p>\n

\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 According to investigators, the men contacted seniors and falsely claimed the victims were linked to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[77686,11751,7894,147265,144297,5238,558,5560,6126,64664,25247,741,26563,1182,147266,13959,147267,4333,8452,9415,53516,31767,52171,2159,3990,20105,3991,139,141,140,23617,49665,51288,15041,111853,5242,10628,3577,988,628,147268,53207,25120,7982],"class_list":["post-366866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-77686","tag-american","tag-bank","tag-batch","tag-benjamin","tag-bill","tag-business","tag-cash","tag-close-up","tag-currency","tag-dollar","tag-finance","tag-franklin","tag-green","tag-greenback","tag-group","tag-heap","tag-hundred","tag-isolated","tag-jackpot","tag-large","tag-loan","tag-many","tag-money","tag-nobody","tag-number","tag-object","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-pack","tag-package","tag-paper","tag-pay","tag-pile","tag-president","tag-salary","tag-sign","tag-thousand","tag-us","tag-usd","tag-wages","tag-wealth","tag-white"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366866","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=366866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}