The types of scams being reported to the federal government haven’t changed much from last year, but losses are on the rise, with the Federal Trade Commission reporting $10 billion in losses to consumers in 2023, $1 billion more than 2022 losses and the highest losses ever reported, according to a new fraud book.
During a Thursday hearing on fighting fraud held by the Senate Special Committee on Aging, US Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), committee chairman, released the group’s ninth annual fraud book, “Fighting Fraud: Scams to Watch Out For,” capturing the most common scams targeting older adults and resources to protect against fraud reported to various sources.
FBI data show that fraud losses among older adults reached $3.4 billion in 2023, Casey said.
Many of the scams reported in 2023 to both the committee’s fraud hotline and the FTC were similar to those reported the year before and included imposter, sweepstakes and lottery scams. Cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence and social media scams continued to play a significant role, however.
“The scams that are perpetrated against older adults today seem similar to scams that have been around for a number of years,” Casey said during the hearing, adding that scammers have become “increasingly sophisticated” in how they contact and prey on older adults. “We need to continue to educate older adults about the scams they may be targeted with, and we need to work together across all levels of government to identify and root out these bad actors.”
A recent analysis by the US Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network found that between June 2022 and June 2023, there were more than 155,400 bank filings totaling $27 billion in which elder financial exploitation was suspected.
In 2023, the Aging Committee’s fraud hotline received 536 new complaints from individuals, bringing the total number of complaints registered since 2013 to almost 12,300. Reported fraud accounts for almost 2.6 million of the 5.4 million complaints reported to the FTC in 2023, with common fraud categories including imposter scams, online shopping and negative reviews, prizes and lottery scams, and investment-related fraud.
The FBI reported that in 2023, tech support scams were the top scam affecting older adults, who reportedly lost almost $590 million. According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, or IC3, investment scams were the costliest scams for older adults, with reported losses topping $1.2 billion last year, a 400% increase since 2021.
The Federal Communications Commission reported that health-related scam calls targeting older adults tended to spike during Medicare’s open enrollment period, October to December. Last year, there were $17 million in confirmed losses due to healthcare scams. Committee Ranking Member Mike Braun (R-IN) said that Medicare lost $60 billion in 2023 due to fraud, errors and abuse.
The total number of fraud, identity theft and other reports to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network in 2023 was 5.5 million. Texas had the most complaints, at 437,790, followed by Florida with 435,579 complaints and New York at 267,377.
Imposter scams were the most pervasive of all scams reported to the FTC, with more than 850,000 reports in 2023. Other prevalent scams reported to the FTC last year included debt collection (12,400 cases reported), mortgage fraud (26,200) and identity theft (1 million).
Last year, victims also lost more than $126 million to Social Security imposter scams, according to the FTC, whereas more than 64,000 consumers reported losing more than $1.1 billion in romance scams. Prize, sweepstakes and lottery scams cost victims $338 million.
