Seniors lost nearly $4.8 billion in 2024 after falling victim to scams, according to a new FBI report.
Americans lost a total of $16.6 billion last year, a 33 per cent increase in losses from 2023 to 2024. Texas, California and Florida reported the highest losses.
The crimes included business email compromise scams, when someone pretending to be a supervisor or co-worker asks for money or gift cards, and technology support scams, occurring when someone pretends a computer or tech item is faulty.
Victims above the age of 60 lost $2 billion to the fake business emails and $1 billion from the tech scam, according to authorities.
Older Americans made up the majority of victims out of the 47,919 investment fraud complaints the agency received, totaling $6 billion in losses in 2024.
Investment scams occur when someone is tricked into investing in assets like stocks, bonds and real estate with a high return. These types of losses have increased within the last five years and account for $50.5 billion in total.
Those aged between 50 to 59 reported the second highest amount of losses, equaling $2.5 billion.
The number of crimes and the total loss might be even higher due to hesitancy from victims in reporting a crime, says the FBI.
The agency also monitors emergency and toll scams, which involve people sending money to pay a toll fee after receiving a text message. Those types of scams led to 59,000 complaints, with people losing $130,000.
Emergency scams involve someone calling a grandparent and pretending to be in distress. Seniors said they lost $2.7 million in those instances.
The agency received 836,000 reports of cyber fraud, accounting for a $20,000 loss on average each year.
“Every number in this report represents a real person, a victim whose trust was betrayed, whose financial security was compromised and whose voice deserves to be heard,” The FBI’s Section Chief of the Criminal Investigative Division, Christopher Delzotto, said during a conference call, according to ABC News.
