{
  "id": 10694277,
  "title": "Last year, Floridians over 60 lost nearly $710M to cybercrime – here’s what to do if you or a loved one has been scammed",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/29/last-year-floridians-over-60-lost-nearly-710m-to-cybercrime-heres",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-29T12:44:16.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Conversation",
    "slug": "the-conversation",
    "url": "https://theconversation.com/last-year-floridians-over-60-lost-nearly-710m-to-cybercrime-heres-what-to-do-if-you-or-a-loved-one-has-been-scammed-291124"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Senior citizens are often targets for cybercriminals, according to cybersecurity educators. In a recent incident, a neighbor in her 70s was scammed out of nearly $100,000. The woman called her bank for help when she couldn't access her account, only to have scammers claim her computer was being hacked. They convinced her to transfer her money into cryptocurrency. The scope of the issue is significant, with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center receiving over 1 million complaints in 2025, resulting in nearly $21 billion in losses. Older Americans, ages 60 and above, accounted for 37% of these financial losses, totaling about $7.75 billion. This issue is particularly significant in Florida, where 23% of the population is over 65, and the state saw 17,000 complaints and nearly $710 million in losses. Protecting older Floridians from fraud involves addressing cybercrime awareness, financial security, and community concerns. The Florida Department of Elder Affairs offers free alerts about scams targeting older adults and their caregivers. An international organization found that 82% of U.S. adults encountered a scam in the past year, despite 86% feeling confident in recognizing them. Only 40% of those who lost money reported the incident to authorities. If you or a loved one has been scammed, contact your financial institution immediately, document everything, and report the incident to authorities.",
  "summary": "Cybercrime is getting increasingly sophisticated, and scammers target senior citizens.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}