Scam-o-Meter: Seasonal scams are driving elder fraud to record highs

Key insights

The scale of elder fraud in America is hard to overstate. Here’s what the data shows:

• Elder fraud losses have grown more than eightfold in five years — from $966 million to $7.748 billion in 2025. Between 2021 and 2025, American seniors reported losing more than $20.8 billion in total.[1] [2]

• Older adults bear a large share of fraud damage. Adults aged 60 and over accounted for just 20% of all complaints filed with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) in 2025 — but 37% of all losses.[1]

• The average loss per victim is staggering. In 2025, the average elder fraud complaint involved a loss of approximately $38,500 — roughly the equivalent of a year’s worth of Social Security payments. And 12,444 victims reported losses exceeding $100,000.[1] [2]

• Investment fraud causes the most damage. The largest fraud category targeting seniors is investment fraud ($3.5 billion), followed by tech support scams ($1 billion+), romance scams ($584 million), and business email compromise ($568 million).[2]

• Scammers have moved to social media. In 2024, social media surpassed all other contact methods as the leading source of elder fraud by total reported losses — $561 million, a 44% increase from the previous year.[1] [4]

• Phone call scams remain the most expensive per victim. The median loss from phone-based fraud is $2,210 — more than three times the median for social media fraud. Scam callers typically pose as government officials or bank representatives and use high-pressure tactics to push victims into making quick decisions.[1] [4]

• Most of the stolen money is never recovered. The FBI’s Recovery Asset Team can freeze stolen funds — but only if fraud is reported within hours. In 2025, fewer than one in 300 elder fraud cases reached that freeze window in time. Less than half of one percent of the $7.748 billion stolen was frozen.[1] [5]

• Most fraud goes unreported. Only about 1 in 20 fraud victims ever files a report. The true annual cost of elder fraud is likely several times higher than official figures suggest.[1] [4]

Criminals target older adults deliberately — seniors tend to have more savings, more home equity, and more assets built up over a lifetime, which makes each successful scam far more profitable.[1] [2]

What our expert says

Tomas Sinicki, managing director at Coveron, recommends that you:

• Treat any unsolicited contact with skepticism, especially when it creates urgency around a seasonal deadline or limited-time offer.
• Verify the identity of anyone claiming to represent a government agency — contact the agency directly through its official website or phone number, but never through a number the suspicious caller or email sender gives you.
• Never move money, buy gift cards, or share personal information under pressure.
• Talk openly with family members about finances and new online relationships — isolation significantly increases the risk of falling victim to fraud, especially romance scams.
• Use an identity theft protection service that includes dark web monitoring for your leaked data and credit monitoring for fraudulent accounts opened in your name.
• Choose the best identity theft protection for seniors — the right service includes reimbursement for losses from identity theft and online scams.
• Worried about a parent or grandparent? Use family identity theft protection that covers several adults and children, so no one in your household is left exposed.  

If you or someone you know has been targeted, report it to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov or the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov.

Methodology and sources

This article draws on two studies published by HCSK Inc., a U.S.-based nonprofit focused on protecting older adults from online and AI-driven scams — “Stolen Trust: A Special Study on America”s Elder Fraud Landscape” and “Protecting America’s Seniors from Online Scams,” both published in 2026. Both studies are based on data from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

What is Scam-o-Meter?

Scam-o-Meter is an ongoing Coveron series where we keep track of online fraud. In each installment, we look at different scam or fraud trends, break down how they work, and share practical tips on how to protect yourself. We also share the latest data from trusted sources — like the FBI, the FTC, and independent research organizations.

References

[1] HCSK Inc. (2026, June 9). “Stolen trust: A special study on America’s elder fraud landscape.” https://seniors.hcsk.org/special-study-2026/read/ opens in a new tab

[2] HCSK Inc. (2026, May 16). “Protecting America’s seniors from online scams.” https://seniors.hcsk.org/protecting-americas-seniors-from-online-scams/ opens in a new tab

[3] Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2026). “Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) 2025 annual report.” https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2025_IC3Report.pdf opens in a new tab 

[4] Federal Trade Commission. (2025, December). “Protecting older consumers 2024–2025.” 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/P144400-OlderAdultsReportDec2025.pdf opens in a new tab

[5] Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. (2022, September). “Recovering from elder financial exploitation: A framework for policy and research.” https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_recovering-from-elder-financial-exploitation_report_09-2022.pdf opens in a new tab