Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody released the following statement regarding the state’s Cyber Fraud Enforcement Unit and its shutdown of six separate cyber schemes in the last three months:
Beginning in October 2024, Attorney General Moody’s CFEU stopped seven cybercriminals in six different cases, ranging from grandparent scammers to identity thieves. Three of the schemes targeted Florida seniors. Over the course of 2024, Attorney General Moody’s CFEU seized nearly $2.4 million in stolen cryptocurrency funds, returning more than $100,000 to victims — with more than $2.2 million still pending for returns.
“Our Cyber Fraud Enforcement Unit works hard to track down cybercriminals seeking to exploit Floridians, especially our seniors,” Moody said. “In just the past three months, we have taken down six major cybercrimes. As technology evolves, so do the tactics of scammers, but my office is constantly working to protect Floridians and hold these cybercriminals accountable.”
In the last three months, Attorney General Moody’s CFEU shut down six different cyber schemes. The following three cases targeted older Floridians:
Attorney General Moody’s CFEU shut down a fraudulent crypto-trading website that mimicked legitimate sites. The website falsely showed substantial financial gains for victims, convincing victims to deposit more money that ended up going directly to scammers’ bank accounts.
Tamer Elia, an employee of Fifth Third Bank, stole the personal identity and bank information of 13 Florida seniors and attempted to drain the victims’ financial accounts. Fifth Third Bank caught Elia and worked with Attorney General Moody’s CFEU to stop the fraud.
Jose Batista implemented a grandparent scam by calling seniors pretending to be their grandchild in trouble and needing money. Batista claimed to have been in a car crash with a pregnant woman and needed bail money from the seniors — sending couriers to retrieve the money that Batista instructed the victims to withdraw.
