Which Age Group Loses the Most Money to Scams?

TL;DR: The FBI's IC3 found Americans aged 60 and over reported $4.885 billion in losses in 2024 (up 43% from 2023) — more than any other age bracket — and its newly released 2025 report shows that figure climbing further to roughly $7.7 billion, up 37% year over year.

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The FBI's IC3 found Americans aged 60 and over reported $4.885 billion in losses in 2024 (up 43% from 2023) — more than any other age bracket — and its newly released 2025 report shows that figure climbing further to roughly $7.7 billion, up 37% year over year.

What the Data Shows

Older adults aren't scammed more often than younger people, but they lose far more money per incident when they are — the FBI's 2024 data shows more than 7,500 older victims lost over $100,000 each, often to tech-support or investment scams.

Why This Matters

Numbers like these are a reminder that this isn’t a rare event — it’s a routine risk. Checking whether your own information has already been exposed takes 30 seconds and costs nothing.

If this looks similar to something else you've seen, it's worth reading Which Industry Gets Breached the Most?.

This pattern shows up elsewhere too — see Which US State Has the Most Reported Identity Theft?.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do the numbers actually show?

What does this mean for you?

Where does this data come from?

This data is drawn from FBI IC3 – 2024 Internet Crime Report, a primary reporting source for fraud and identity theft data.