Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced the recovery of $5.4 million in cryptocurrency for victims in a "romance-turned-investment scam" from six Florida counties and Massachusetts while speaking in Ocala this week.
The return, led by the Cyber Fraud Enforcement Unit (CFEU) with assistance from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, is the largest amount of crypto returned in a statewide operation.
“Cyber fraud often targets Florida’s seniors, and our office made it a priority to recover as much money as possible from cyber criminals and return it to victims,” Uthmeier said. "In a record-breaking partnership with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, our Cyber Fraud Enforcement Unit is setting the standard for cryptocurrency recovery. We are committed to tracking down these criminals and returning funds to their rightful owners.”
According to the attorney general, CFEU agents recovered all of the stolen funds, including $700,000 for Florida victims and $1.3 million for Massachusetts victims, many of whom were seniors who used dating sites looking for love before being swayed by criminals asking for money.
In one case, a Marion County man thought he lost $450K before it was recovered by law enforcement. Funds unable to be returned to victims will be used for future CFEU operations.
“It truly angers me that there are people in this world that have no problem making victims of citizens in our community,” Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods added.
"Many times these are senior citizens. Cyber scams and fraud may never go away but, in Marion County and in Florida, we will come after those who choose to do this," Woods continued. "My detectives will keep hunting you down and the Attorney General’s office will continue to aggressively prosecute these thieves. Cyber scammers have no place in Florida except behind a cell door.”
The latest retrieval comes after CFEU officials recovered $3.3 million in cryptocurrency during the first fiscal quarter of 2026, or 45% of recoveries since the unit's founding two and a half years ago.
Overall, CFEU has retrieved $7.2 million, with Marion County helping in $6.5 of the recovery efforts, the largest of any law enforcement partner in the state. In addition, 12.6 million in frozen crypto is currently being litigated for return to other victims of cybercrime.
