Washington, D.C. — From romance scams to business imposters, older Americans are losing billions of dollars to fraud schemes.
A report from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) finds that seniors reported losing more than $1.9nine billion to fraud last year. The finding shows older Americans also lost more money to fraud using bank transfers and cryptocurrency than any other payment methods.
Kathy Stokes with AARP’s Fraud Prevention Programs said fraud scams affect all adults regardless of age, but she said seniors may have more assets at risk.
“It’s the retirement funds, it’s maybe life insurance proceeds, but it’s also homes and cars and the criminals will seek to take everything,” said Stokes.
The FTC says a lot of fraud also goes unreported and the agency estimates fraud losses for seniors could be as high as $61.5 billion last year.
That’s one of the reasons why Stokes believes fraud should be prioritized as a crime. She said fraud victims often feel shame or embarrassment about what …