A new report from the FBI sheds light on the scope of scams in the United States, especially on seniors. According to the Elder Fraud Report 2023, the total losses in 2023 were $3,427,717,654 from 101,068 complainants over 60 years old. The average dollar loss per person was $33,915, but over 5,920 people lost more than $100K. The figures represent an 11% increase from 2022. Sadly, it’s also reported that these figures may only be the tip of the iceberg for two reasons. First, not all FBI reports include the age of the victim. Secondly, not all victims report fraud.
Most common frauds targeting seniors
Although romance scams made the top 5 types of scams, it certainly wasn’t the most common. That honor went to tech and customer support scams. Criminals pose as tech or customer representatives, usually from well-known companies. While many of these scams occur by phone, they can also be through pop-up windows, emails and even online ads.
Scammers post ads to get their website/phone number to show up for customer or tech support, hoping that someone will call the phone number. Personal data breaches, non-payment or non-delivery scams, and investment scams round out the top five scams. But seniors lost more money in investment scams, more than $1.2B, when only about $600M was lost in tech support scams.
Scams – protect yourself, your business and loved ones
Many types of scams have decreased since 2021. Romance scams reported in 2021 totaled 7,658, in 2023, 6,740. Identify theft in 2023 reported at 8,902, in 2023, that figure was only 3010. Lottery scams were down to 1,771 in 2023 versus 2,607 in 2021. The growth of investment and tech support scams grew, so the actual number of scams increased.
Protect yourself against scammers by not clicking on links in emails or texts. In fact, don’t click on Google ads when trying to find customer service numbers. Never pay cash or use gift cards to make payments. Make sure your family, especially seniors, know how to protect themselves against scams by only using legitimate sites and apps. Go through the legitimate company’s app or website to find phone numbers. Report scams to the FTC or the FBI (or both).