Elder fraud losses hit $3B as asset placement scams surge 42%, FTC says
Six-figure losses, social media lures and impostor schemes are draining older purchasers’ financial savings, report back to Congress reveals
Elder fraud losses reported to the Federal Trade Commission ballooned about $3 billion in 2025, 5 instances the 2020 stage, with asset placement scams alone costing Americans 60 and older greater than $1 billion, in accordance with the company’s annual report on scams throughout the US.
The whole within the FTC’s ninth annual Protecting Older Consumers report rose from about $2.4 billion in 2024. Because most victims by no means file a grievance, the company estimates that the true value of fraud to older Americans final 12 months may very well be as excessive as $119.5 billion, relying on how underreporting is modeled.
“The FTC is dedicated to defending older Americans from scams, together with by taking each motion essential to shut down fraud operations,” stated Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a statement accompanying the report.
Six-figure losses drive elder fraud surge
Losses above $100,000 made up solely 6% of older adults’ loss experiences in 2025, however they accounted for 70% of the {dollars} misplaced. The incidence of such experiences rose to six,769 from 1,136 in 2020, and mixed six-figure losses grew almost sevenfold over the identical interval. After adjusting for inhabitants, older adults have been greater than twice as possible as youthful adults to report a loss that enormous.
The median reported loss for individuals 60 and older held at about $900. For these 80 and older it was $2,000, up 21% from 2024 and the very best of any age group.
Older adults usually are not simpler targets total, in accordance with the FTC, which stated 74% of fraud experiences they obtain concerned no financial loss. After controlling for inhabitants, older Americans have been 14% much less possible than adults ages 18 to 59 to report dropping cash. The drawback is that when older adults do lose cash, they have an inclination to lose extra.
Investment scams lead losses, with impostors shut behind
Investment scams have been the most expensive class for aged victims, at $1.06 billion in reported losses, up 42%. Victims typically stated they have been steered towards pretend cryptocurrency buying and selling platforms after first being approached on social media.
Government impostor scams ranked second at $448 million, up 20%. The most expensive of those concerned fraudsters posing because the FTC, the Social Security Administration and the FBI. Business impostors, most frequently claiming to be banks, took $422 million.
Romance scams value older adults $384 million, up 17%, and older adults have been 48% extra possible than youthful individuals to report a loss to at least one. The hole was wider for tech-support schemes, the place older adults have been 324% extra prone to report dropping cash, and for prize and sweepstakes scams, the place they have been 112% extra possible.
The FTC stated impostor instances are inclined to comply with the identical sample. A caller claims an account has been compromised and tells the sufferer to “shield” their financial savings by wiring cash, mailing money or depositing it at a bitcoin ATM. In some instances, the callers coach victims on what to inform financial institution staff, creating challenges for banks making an attempt to stability client safety in opposition to prospects’ proper to entry their very own cash.
Social media, financial institution transfers and crypto gasoline the losses
Social media was the most expensive approach scammers first reached older adults, with $750 million in reported losses in 2025, about 12 instances the 2020 determine. Investment scams made up 56% of these losses and romance scams 23%.
Phone scams precipitated much less in whole however extra per sufferer. The median cellphone loss was $3,000, in contrast with $599 for scams that started on social media. Reported losses from text-message scams rose 61%.
Most of the cash moved by way of financial institution transfers, which carried $1.03 billion in reported losses, and cryptocurrency, at $603 million. Since 2020, losses paid by financial institution switch have grown greater than tenfold and losses paid in crypto greater than 27-fold.
What is being finished to guard older traders?
The FTC stated its enforcement actions returned greater than $513 million to customers of all ages in fiscal 2026. In 2025, it referred 680 high-loss experiences to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. The FBI’s Recovery Asset Team was reportedly in a position to act on 200 of them, masking $18.7 million in reported losses, and banks froze greater than $10.8 million.
Since April, the FTC has directed older adults who report important fraud to the Justice Department’s National Elder Fraud Hotline, and it says greater than 320 callers have been related to this point.
Still, the FTC says its instruments stay restricted. Among different requests, it’s persevering with to induce Congress to revive its energy to hunt financial reduction below Section 13(b) of the FTC Act, which the Supreme Court curtailed in 2021.
