FTC: Impersonation Scam Losses Among Older Adults Soared to $445 Million in 2024

It is an eightfold increase from the $55 million lost in 2020, with some victims losing their entire life savings.
FTC: Impersonation Scam Losses Among Older Adults Soared to $445 Million in 2024
The Federal Trade Commission building in Washington. Paul J. Richards/AFP via Getty Images
Mary Prenon
Mary Prenon
Freelance Reporter
|Updated:
0:00
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on Aug. 7 that scammers posing as government officials or business representatives stole a total of $445 million from Americans over the age of 60 in 2024—an eightfold increase from the $55 million lost in 2020.

Individually, older adults admitted to being swindled out of $10,000 or more, sometimes their entire life savings, by these scammers. Reports of this high-tech theft have quadrupled in the past four years.

Mary Prenon
Mary Prenon
Freelance Reporter
Mary T. Prenon covers real estate and business. She has been a writer and reporter for over 25 years with various print and broadcast media in New York.