The Federal Trade Commission released its 2024–2025 report to Congress showing a sharp rise in older adults reporting losses above $100,000 to scams. The report attributes the increase primarily to investment, romance, and tech‑support schemes and details enforcement and outreach efforts.

The Federal Trade Commission’s 2024–2025 report to Congress documents a significant uptick in older adults reporting very large monetary losses to fraud, including a notable rise in reports of losses exceeding $100,000. The FTC attributes the surge to a combination of sophisticated investment fraud, romance scams, and tech‑support cons that prey on trust and unfamiliarity with digital platforms. The report highlights that older consumers reported substantially higher median losses than younger cohorts, and it catalogs the agency’s recent enforcement actions, civil litigation, consumer education campaigns, and partnerships with state and international law enforcement. The FTC emphasizes prevention strategies, urging older adults and their families to verify offers, consult trusted advisers before transferring large sums, and report suspected fraud promptly through FTC channels. The report also calls for enhanced data sharing and targeted outreach to communities with high impersonation and crypto‑related fraud exposure, and it outlines next steps for rulemaking and cross‑border cooperation to disrupt fraud networks.