A Federal Trade Commission report issued Tuesday found that in 2021 older adults reported significantly higher losses to investment scams, business impersonation scams, and government impersonation scams than in 2020:
• Investment scams: $147 million reported lost, up 213 percent.
• Business impersonation scams: $151 million reported lost, up 134 percent.
• Government impersonation scams: $122 million reported lost, up 109 percent.
The report, Protecting Older Consumers, 2021 – 2022, found that in 2021, adults 60 and over were substantially less likely to report losing money to fraud than adults 20 – 59. When they did report losing money, the FTC said, they tended to report losing substantially more than younger adults. Consumers 80 and older reported losing a median of $1,500 to fraud, while those in their seventies reported a median loss of $800.
Also, adults 60 and older were:
• Nearly five times as likely as adults 20 to 59 to report losing money to a tech support scam.
• More than twice as likely to report a loss to a prize, lottery or sweepstakes scam.
• 45 percent more likely to report losing money to a friend or family impersonation scam.
And adults 60 and older filed the largest number of reports about online frauds when contacted via social media, the web, or online ads. The largest median losses that…
