Older Adults Reported $3 Billion in Fraud Losses Last Year, FTC Says

People 60 and older reported losing about $3 billion to fraud in 2025, up from about $600 million in 2020, the Federal Trade Commission said in its annual report to Congress on protecting older adults, released October 19. The FTC says the rise was driven largely by more reports of extraordinarily large individual losses, and it estimates the true cost of fraud to older adults last year, including losses never reported, could be as high as $119.5 billion.

Investment scams were the costliest: reported losses by older adults jumped 42 percent to more than $1 billion, and people often said the scammer first reached them on social media. Older adults also reported much higher median losses than younger people, especially those 80 and over, whose median reported loss was $2,000.

The pattern cuts both ways. Older adults report losing money at lower rates than younger adults and file far more reports in which they lost nothing. But they remain more likely to lose money to tech support scams; prize, sweepstakes and lottery scams; romance scams; government impersonation; and scams impersonating a friend or family member.

If you or a parent is contacted out of the blue about an investment, a prize, a computer problem or a relative in trouble, stop and verify through a number you already have. Report fraud at ReportFraud.ftc.gov; the reports feed the data behind this report and the FTC's cases.