Redazione RHC : 10 August 2025 09:29
Americans over 60 lost a staggering $700 million to online fraud in 2024, the highest figure ever recorded by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The new Consumer Protection Data Spotlight finds losses across all categories, from small to multimillion-dollar, increasing compared to previous years, with a particularly sharp increase in larger thefts.
According to the statistics, the hardest hit were victims who lost more than $100,000 in a single incident: such losses amounted to $445 million, eight times more than in 2020. Others $214 million was lost in the $10,000 to $100,000 age group, while smaller amounts, up to $10,000, amounted to $41 million. By comparison, four years ago, the total loss in this age group was $121 million, and the current figure has more than sixfold increased. Even compared to 2023, when losses totaled $542 million, the increase was approximately 30%.
The FTC explicitly clarifies that, while these statistics are impressive, they only paint part of the bigger picture. All Americans lost money due to fraud in 2024 to a record $12.5 billion, a quarter higher than the 2023 figure. Furthermore, this growth has been observed continuously since official accounting began.
The most common scams targeting older Americans last year involved impersonating government agencies and fictitious, urgent crisis situations.Victims were told that suspicious activity had been detected on their bank accounts, that their Social Security number was being used for criminal activity, or that their computer was infected with malware. To further complicate matters, scammers posed as government agencies, including the FTC itself, or large companies like Microsoft and Amazon, promising to “help” solve a nonexistent problem.
A special place in these scenarios is occupied by cases in which scammers posed as genuine representatives of the Consumer Protection Commission, copying the names and positions of real employees. Under this guise, they convinced victims to transfer funds to a “safe” account, deposit money via cryptocurrency ATMs, or even hand over bundles of cash and gold bars to couriers. The FTC emphasizes that none of these actions are related to the actions of actual government agencies.
In most cases, the attacks began online, via email, social media, or instant messaging, but the scammers then switched to phone calls to increase pressure, create a sense of desperation, and psychologically destroy the victim. Elderly people are particularly vulnerable due to their trust in authorities, limited technical expertise, and large savings. In some cases, people have lost not only all their current funds, but also their long-term retirement savings, which were supposed to secure their life after retirement.
The FTC recommends, in situations like these, ending the conversation altogether and verifying the information yourself. Contacting the organization through official contacts. Providing money or sensitive information to strangers, even if they claim to be government or company employees, inevitably leads to disastrous consequences.
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