Older Americans Reported $3 Billion in Fraud Losses in 2025, FTC Tells Congress

Americans aged 60 and over reported losing about $3 billion to fraud in 2025. That is up 25% from $2.4 billion in 2024 and roughly five times the $600 million reported in 2020, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

The numbers come from the FTC's ninth annual report on protecting older consumers, titled Protecting Older Consumers 2025-2026. The agency sent it to Congress on Monday, Oct. 19, 2026.

A few huge losses drive the total

The increase is not spread evenly. Only 6% of older fraud victims reported losing $100,000 or more last year. Those victims account for 70% of the age group's reported losses, about $2.1 billion.

The number of older adults reporting a loss of that size rose from 1,136 in 2020 to 6,769 in 2025. Combined losses of that size rose from $306 million in 2020 to $2.1 billion in 2025.

Investment scams were the costliest category, at $1.059 billion in reported losses, a 42% jump from 2024. Victims often told the FTC the scammers first reached them on social media, through ads for investment opportunities or messages from people posing as financial advisors. Some were then steered to fraudulent trading platforms.

Government impersonation ranked second at $448 million. Business impersonation followed at $422 million.

How the scams work

In many impersonation schemes, criminals pose as a bank or government agency and claim the victim's money is at risk. They then instruct the victim to move funds, mail cash or feed money into crypto ATMs, supposedly to protect the account. An August 2025 FTC analysis described these fabricated emergencies as a common thread.

The FBI has said AI-generated scams are easier to produce and harder to detect. The FTC report also lists tech support scams, prize and lottery fraud, romance scams, and criminals posing as relatives or friends who claim to be in an accident or a legal jam.

Older adults reported higher individual losses than younger people, though they reported losing money less often. They also filed a higher share of reports about attempts that cost them nothing. Among people 80 and older, the median reported loss was $2,000.

What the figures do and don't measure

These are self-reported figures from the FTC's Consumer Sentinel Network. They are not a count of every victim. Most victims never report, so the FTC estimates actual 2025 losses among older adults fell somewhere between $13.3 billion and $119.5 billion. The 2024 estimate was $10.1 billion to $81.5 billion.

That wide range shows how little anyone knows about the true size of the problem.

The report also covers two different time windows. Fraud data is for calendar year 2025. The enforcement actions it lists run from Oct. 1, 2025, through Sept. 30, 2026, the FTC's fiscal year 2026. The windows overlap only for the last three months of 2025.

The FTC's response and the ask of Congress

The Commission voted 2-0 to issue the report. Only two commissioners are listed: Chairman Andrew Ferguson and Commissioner Mark Meador. Cover letters signed by Commission Secretary April Tabor went to Reps. Jim Jordan and Jamie Raskin of the House Judiciary Committee and Sens. Chuck Grassley and Dick Durbin of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The filing is required under the Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act of 2017. It obliges the FTC to list its enforcement actions involving elder victims or schemes aimed at them. This year's list includes cases on debt relief services, health insurance fraud, and government and business impersonation.

"The FTC is committed to protecting older Americans from scams, including by taking every action necessary to shut down fraud operations," said Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.

The agency is also asking Congress to restore its power to win refunds for victims in federal court.

Bob Blancato, national coordinator of the Elder Justice Coalition, called the figures "staggering." "Part of it is that the perpetrators are always ahead," he said. "They seem to be one step ahead of everybody."

Tax relief for victims

Congress is also weighing legislation to give scam victims more protection and relief. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 temporarily restricted victims' ability to claim fraud losses as a deduction in certain cases. The bipartisan Tax Relief for Fraud Victims Act passed the House in September in a 408-17 vote and was referred to the Senate Finance Committee. It is uncertain whether it will gain traction in the Senate before this session of Congress ends.

Whether lawmakers move on either the FTC's refund-authority request or the tax relief remains unresolved. The FTC's own estimate puts the 2025 toll on older adults at up to $119.5 billion.