Senior citizens lost $700M to scammers in 2024

Scammers are stealing the life savings of retirees more and more. Last year, US citizens over the age of 60 reported losses of over $700 million to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Criminals pretend to be employees from known and trusted government agencies and institutions, such as banks, Microsoft, and the Social Security Administration. They claim someone is using their bank accounts for suspicious activities, that their information is being used to commit crimes, or that their computer has a security issue.

These con men try to convince their victims that there’s only one way out of this mess, which includes sending money to the scammers. In reality, the only goal of these scammers is to drain their victims’ accounts, either by wiring sums of money to the scammers’ bank accounts, by depositing cash into Bitcoin ATMs, or handing off stacks of cash or gold to couriers.

The reports of losses have increased significantly over the past few years. According to the latest edition of the FTC’s Consumer Protection Data Spotlight, the number of reports from adults over the age of 60 who lost $10,000 or more to these scams increased more than fourfold from 2020 to 2024.

In the same period, combined individual losses that surpass $100,000 increased to $445 million in damages. In 2020, the total losses attributed to senior citizens were $121 million. In 2024, the damages increased to $700 million, representing nearly a sixfold increase.

The elderly seem to be an easy victim for swindlers, but they’re surely not the only ones who are being targeted. Younger people also report losing money to imposters. However, their losses are significantly less compared to the hundreds of thousands of dollars that are much more likely to be filed by older adults because of their larger financial reserves.

To stay safe and steer away from these scams, the FTC recommends never moving money or sharing financial information with unknown callers or messengers. Instead, people should hang up and verify the call by contacting the agency or company directly, using a phone number or website you know is real.

Lastly, people who are being targeted by scammers should block unwanted calls.

$700 million in losses for senior citizens is a considerable amount. However, it pales in comparison to the unprecedented $12.5 billion in losses to fraud in 2024.