New Data Show How Much Worse Scams Are Getting for Americans Over 60

The Federal Trade Commission launched a brand-new report Monday on scams targeting older Americans, specified as individuals 60 and older. And things simply keep becoming worse.

The report, which is mandated by Congress under the Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act of 2017, discovered that the quantity of cash senior citizens reported to the FTC as being lost to scams leapt from $600 million in 2020 to $3 billion in 2025. The genuine number is most likely a number of times that, given that many scams goes unreported. The FTC approximates that the general expense in 2025 might be anywhere from $13.5 billion to $119.5 billion, depending upon which method is utilized. That’s a boost of as much as 47% over 2024.

“These figures show a significant degree of unpredictability since the scale of underreporting, especially when losses are high, is not well comprehended,” the FTC states in its brand-new report

Older grownups reported the greatest private losses to the FTC, compared to more youthful Americans, which is to be anticipated provided the manner in which wealth is dispersed in the U.S.– Baby Boomers, those in between 62-80 years of ages, hold about 51% of the country’s wealth, while Gen-X holds 26%, and Millennials hold 11%.

Those over 80 years of ages, called the Silent Generation, hold about 11% of the nation’s wealth however reported the biggest specific losses. The typical reported loss amongst those 80 and older was $2,000.

“From 2020 to 2025, combined losses by older grownups who reported losing over $100,000 increased almost sevenfold. While these reports were reasonably unusual at 6% of older grownups’ loss reports in 2025, they represented 70% of their aggregate reported losses,” according to the report.

The most typical kinds of scams reported to the FTC amongst older grownups was financial investment frauds, rip-offs including impersonation of federal government authorities, and business-impersonation frauds, according to the report.

One intriguing thing to note is that while the most typical method for these rip-offs to be started was through social networks, mean specific losses were much greater for scams that started with a call. Scams initially started by text were counted in a different classification from phone scams.

Older grownups were 324 %most likely than more youthful individuals to report losing cash on a rip-off that was made to seem like a tech assistance call. Lottery game and sweepstakes frauds were likewise much greater amongst older individuals.

Older individuals were likewise 48 % most likely to report losing cash to a love fraud, something that’s not entirely unexpected. Older individuals were less most likely to report losing cash on things like online shopping scams, though remarkably they had a greater tendency to release reports on that type of scams than more youthful individuals. Which is to state that older individuals in basic are most likely to report attempted scams versus them even if they didn’t eventually lose any cash.

Bank transfers represented the greatest aggregated dollar loss (over $1 billion) for older individuals, however paying through charge card was the most regularly reported payment technique for rip-offs amongst the age, even if the quantities were much smaller sized.

Gizmodo has actually taken a look at a variety of grievances to the FTC throughout the years and love frauds targeting older individuals can be a few of the most heartbreaking. As one example, a Washington lady in her 70s informed the FTC she lost $63,000 to an Elon Musk impersonator. She appeared to truly think she remained in a romantic relationship with the trillionaire, according to files gotten by Gizmodo, and required the cash for oral surgery.

Other celeb names are typically utilized for impersonation rip-offs, consisting of stars well past their prime, in order to target older Americans. Fraudsters will regularly utilize Johnny Depp, for instance, to encourage senior females that he’s truly in love with them. The amounts are remarkable, according to files we’ve acquired through FOIA. One lady in her 60s in Alabama reported losing $350,000 to a Johnny Depp impersonator, while a California lady over 80 reported losing $200,000.

“There is an impersonator for Johnny Depp who has actually asked for numerous wire transfers to numerous people and present cards, and apple cards from my Mom savings account,” one 2024 problem to the FTC read. “This imposter has actually made the most of my mom and is bothering her and controling her through social networks, phone and messaging services.”

That female remained in her 70s and from Michigan. She lost $175,000, and the fraudsters informed her to keep the payments a trick from her household.

The FTC report does not consist of any information on frauds utilizing AI, about which we presently just have anecdotes. You can wager AI representatives are going to end up being significantly typical as a method to dupe individuals out of their difficult made cash, senior or otherwise.

If you’ve been scammed, you can report your experience to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov