People over 60 reported more than $1.7 billion lost to fraud and scams in 2021, according to the FBI’s 2021 Elder Fraud Report. These older adults reported both the most incidents and the highest losses of any group in the report.
But that doesn’t mean you need to single out your grandparents for a phishing lesson at the next family gathering. Research shows that older adults can have additional risk factors, but everybody gets targeted by scams, and everybody gets better at avoiding scams when they’re well-informed about them.
Family members and caregivers all probably have stories to tell about their own experiences with attempted scams. That’s why Taylor Patskanick of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s AgeLab recommends a “multi-generational conversation” on the subject.
Open conversations about fraud and financial exploitation could help older adults avoid scams — but the younger participants could probably use a reminder, too.
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Here’s what you should know to help make that conversation helpful to everyone involved.
Addressing risk factors for fraud
A growing body of research shows that there are several factors common among older adults that are correlated with increased susceptibility to scams. Here are a few examples:
- Cognitive decline.
- Social isolation.
- Lack of knowledge about how to avoid scams.
Having a chat with older adults about fraud and scams can benefit not just your older relatives — it can help everyone in the discussion avoid becoming a victim.
The lack of knowledge was also a concern for a panel of adults age 85 and older discussing fraud and financial exploitation at the MIT AgeLab.
“We heard them talk a lot about really lacking information — very specific information about a type of scam that was circulating,” says Patskanick.
Those older adults also “articulated a collective understanding that they do have gaps in their knowledge of technology which can make them, sometimes, easy prey for digitally enabled financial exploitation and fraud,” according to Patskanick.
Advance warning about scams can help older adults successfully avoid future scam attempts, according to a study published in 2014 in Basic and Applied Social Psychology.
But it’s not just older adults who can benefit.
Even spending just three minutes watching a video about investing fraud techniques reduced susceptibility to financial fraud in adult participants of all ages, according to a 2021 study published by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority — or FINRA — a nongovernmental organization that regulates the U.S. securities industry. And repeated exposure to the information helped the effect last longer.
Spending just a few minutes chatting about fraud and scams at a family gathering could help everybody avoid them in the future.
Common types of fraud and scams
Relatively few scams exclusively target older adults — though there are some, like the grandparent scam (explained below).
Here are the most common types of fraud and scams that target older adults, as reported to the Senate Special Committee on Aging’s Fraud Hotline and/or the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.
Tech support scam
What it is: Scammers claim to be working for well-known companies like Microsoft, Apple or Google. They might say that your computer or phone has viruses or other tech support issues, and then ask for remote access to a computer or for the recipient to buy unnecessary software or services.
What to do about it: Don’t give up computer access or personal information. Check with a trusted tech-savvy person who can help figure out if there really is an issue and who can help with it.
Government impersonation scam
What it is: Scammers claim to be working for a government agency like Social Security, Medicare or the IRS. They might say that you owe money or need a new ID card, and then ask for a payment and/or your sensitive personal information.
What to do about it: Don’t send money or give out your personal information. To confirm whether there’s actually an issue, get the official contact information for the agency from a ".gov" website like IRS.gov or USA.gov.
Grandparent scam
What it is: Scammers claim to be a grandchild or other relative. They might say that they’re in trouble and need money fast for a plane ticket, a medical bill or bail.
What to do about it: Don’t send money or give up personal information right away. Check on the family member’s whereabouts with another relative who would know, or get in touch using a phone number or online account that you know is theirs.
Sweepstakes scam
What it is: Scammers claim to represent a sweepstakes or lottery. They might say that you’ve won a big prize, but you need to pay taxes or fees to collect, and then ask for financial information or payments.
What to do about it: Don’t give up money or personal information. Real sweepstakes can’t ask you to pay to enter or get a prize.
You can report attempts at these and other scams at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
Resources to guide conversations
Here are some additional anti-fraud resources for older adults with specific details on current scams and what to do about them:
- The Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, has an anti-fraud campaign aimed at older adults called “Pass It On.” The campaign offers simple instructions in English and Spanish for how to identify and avoid many common types of fraud.
- The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, has resources for older adults, caregivers and financial institutions. Subjects include choosing a trusted person to help protect money; planning for diminished capacity; preventing elder financial abuse; and identifying and reporting suspicious activities.
- The U.S. Department of Justice’s Elder Justice Initiative has resources on abuse and financial exploitation of older adults and guidance for how to report issues to the appropriate authorities.
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Think you're immune to cybercrime because you're young and tech savvy? Think again
Who is most impacted by cybercrime?
While generalizations are rarely true, there is one that holds up pretty well: People tend to believe (and take comfort in the idea) that different kinds of crime could never happen to them—notably cybercrime. They're too smart, too careful, and too tech savvy.
But, of course, the truth is more complicated than that.
A 2021 study by the Federal Trade Commission found less than 5% of mass-market consumer fraud victims report their experiences to either the Better Business Bureau or a government agency. This study also described an interesting variation in the inclination of victims of various forms of fraud to report malfeasance in any way.
For example, while 58% of people duped into purchasing a product or service that was never delivered registered a complaint to the vendor, less than 20% of victims of fraudulent credit card insurance or computer repair logged complaints. And overall, only 12% of victims of any form of digital fraud complained to their credit card company, bank, or other financial service provider, despite the protections such institutions provide their clientele.
One could speculate that embarrassment keeps many people from seeking justice, or perhaps they assume filing a complaint won't get them anywhere. Age is most certainly a factor. Older Americans lose more money overall from cyber scams than younger age groups, though those younger age groups experience a higher total volume of cybercrimes—meaning that while it costs older folks more cash, there are more young victims than old.
While age is one of the easiest ways to categorize and reduce fraud, especially cybercrime, there are nonetheless valid (and quite alarming) variations in instances of cybercrime that can be qualified by looking at the issue through the lens of age. Twingate collected and analyzed information from the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center and the Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Sentinel to understand how online crime differed between age groups in 2021.
The FBI receives an average of 2,300 complaints per day about online crime, and the bureau estimates there was almost $7 billion lost to it in 2021 alone. No small potatoes. How it breaks down among the population's generations provides key insights into how cybercrime affects every American.
People under age 50 lost around $2.7 billion to internet scams in 2021
- Under 20 years old: $101 million
- 20-29 years old: $431 million
- 30-39 years old: $937 million
- 40-49 years old: $1.2 billion
- 50-59 years old: $1.3 billion
- 60+ years old: $1.7 billion
It's true the older you get, the more dollars your age group has been scammed out of. When you consider the history of the digital world, it really isn't until you get to the early tip of the 40-49 range that you begin to see people who grew up with the internet as a component part of their lives from an early age.
It is therefore not terribly surprising that those over 40 have suffered the greatest monetary losses to cybercrime. The losses as shown here rise with near-uniformity until you reach the over-40 age ranges, where they strike the billions. This begs the question of precisely how cyberthieves are targeting the older age groups.
According to the FBI's 2021 Internet Crime Report, confidence fraud (also known as romance scams), tech support fraud, phishing, and personal data theft are all high on the list of the most common forms of cybercrime.
People in younger age groups are scammed at higher rates than those over 60
- Under 20 years old: 182 per million
- 20-29 years old: 1,580
- 30-39 years old: 1,948
- 40-49 years old: 2,181
- 50-59 years old: 1,753
- 60+ years old: 1,198
While younger people are scammed for less cash each time they are targeted, they are nonetheless scammed more frequently. This makes intuitive sense, too.
High-profile, high-cost scams like romance scams and predatory telemarketing scams are more likely to affect older people, while it's easy to imagine younger people buying, for example, counterfeit sneakers—a lousy circumstance, but one that might cost just $300 instead of $30,000.
41% of people in their 20s reported losing money to fraud
- Compared to 18% of people ages 70-79
This number is staggering—it means that 2 in 5 people in their 20s have lost money to fraud. That's more than 18 million victims nationwide. But it makes more sense when you consider the full scope of things that count as cybercrimes.
Older people may be more likely to lose more money in one fell swoop, but younger people are surrounded by opportunities to log into new websites and buy from new advertisers, both of which are key opportunities for legitimate-looking websites to steal your data or financial information.
People in their 40s were the fastest-growing segment of online crime victims
- 44,878 reports in 2017 vs 89,184 in 2021 (49% increase)
Between 2017 and 2021, cybercrimes against people in their 40s increased by nearly 50%. That this makes them the fastest-growing cybercrime demographic is not all that surprising.
Consider the fact that this age range is a key demographic of people who grew up with an older version of the internet, and therefore may likely overestimate their skill set for remaining safe online as technology continues to evolve away from modes and methods of familiarity—most notably with regard to how payment transactions take place and the perceived security surrounding bank and credit card information.
Adults under 40 were more than twice as likely to be the victims of social media scams
- Social media was the most profitable method for scammers, with about $770 million in losses in 2021
The FTC report indicating $770 million in cybercrime losses over social media in 2021 represents more than 13% of the total amount all age groups were scammed for that year. People under 40 are by far the largest group on every major social media site, so it might stand to reason that they are more than twice as likely to be the victim of social media related scams. What's interesting about the dollar amount here is that it is not larger, despite the fact that it represents the most profitable means of cybercrime. Common forms of social media scams include clickbait and impersonation scams, sweepstakes or lottery scams, and various money-making or "get rich quick" scams.
This story originally appeared on Twingate and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
This article was written with the support of a journalism fellowship from the Gerontological Society of America, the Journalists Network on Generations and the Silver Century Foundation.
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