People 60 and older reported about $3 billion in fraud losses in 2025, roughly five times the 2020 total, according to the Federal Trade Commission's October 19 report to Congress. The agency says growing reports of very large individual losses drove much of the increase.
Where reported losses grew
Investment scams accounted for more than $1 billion in older adults' reported losses, a 42 percent increase in 2025. The FTC says people often reported that scammers reached them on social media.
Reports of losses over $100,000 represented 6 percent of older adults' loss reports but 70 percent of their aggregate reported losses. People 80 and older reported a median individual loss of $2,000. A median marks the middle of the reported losses; it does not describe everyone's experience.
The report also records a different pattern: older adults reported losing money to fraud at lower rates than younger adults, while filing reports about fraud without a monetary loss at higher rates. Those comparisons account for the population size of each age group.
What the figures can establish
Consumer Sentinel data are self-reported, not a survey. People choose whether to report and which details to provide. Only about 46 percent of 2025 fraud reports included age information. The FTC also notes that it did not take consumer reports from October 1 through November 13, 2025 because of a funding lapse.
The FTC separately estimates older adults' overall 2025 fraud losses at $13.3 billion to $119.5 billion, using different assumptions about unreported fraud. The higher figure assumes reporting rates drawn from earlier research; the lower figure assumes everyone losing at least $10,000 reported it. The report says the estimates are highly sensitive to assumptions about large losses. Neither figure is a measured total.
Reporting fraud
The FTC's release directs people to ReportFraud.ftc.gov to report fraud, scams and bad business practices. It says the agency will never demand money, threaten people, tell them to transfer money or promise a prize.
The report describes referrals to the Justice Department's National Elder Fraud Hotline for additional assistance. A referral is not a promise that lost money will be recovered.