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Americans age 60 and older\u00a0lost more than US$3 billion<\/a>\u00a0to scammers in 2023, according to the FBI.<\/p>\n To put that whopping figure in context, Taylor Swift\u2019s Eras Tour recently made news as the\u00a0first concert tour ever to earn $1 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n As a geriatrician<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 a doctor who cares for people over 65 years of age \u2013 I believe elder fraud has reached\u00a0an epidemic scale<\/a>. My patients often tell me about being scammed.<\/p>\n The consequences can be worse than just losing money. The experience\u00a0is traumatic<\/a>\u00a0for many, with some victims\u00a0feeling deep shame<\/a>\u00a0and self-doubt in the aftermath. This can interfere with their relationships, erode their trust in others and harm their mental and physical health.<\/p>\n Teaching older Americans how to identify and avoid fraud \u2013 and how to report such crimes \u2013 could go some way to mitigating the impact of this modern epidemic.<\/p>\n A\u00a0recent FBI report<\/a>\u00a0shows just how prevalent elder fraud is. In 2023, Americans over 60 submitted 14% more complaints to the FBI\u2019s\u00a0Internet Crime Complaint Center<\/a>, or IC3, than they did the previous year. Estimated financial losses rose about 11% over the same period.<\/p>\n These numbers, grim as they are, only represent the tip of the iceberg. For one thing, only about half of the reports of internet crimes to the FBI included information about the victim\u2019s age \u2013 which means reported incidents of elder fraud are an undercount.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, these figures don\u2019t include the many scams that take place over the phone, by mail or in person. And many fraud victims never report their experiences \u2013 often because\u00a0they\u2019re embarrassed, afraid or unsure what to do<\/a>.<\/p>\n While\u00a0people of all ages<\/a>\u00a0are victimized by fraudsters, older adults can be\u00a0uniquely vulnerable<\/a>.<\/p>\n The FBI has suggested that older adults are often targeted because they\u00a0tend to be more trusting and polite<\/a>. They often\u00a0have financial savings<\/a>,\u00a0own homes<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0have good credit<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 all of which make them more attractive to scammers.<\/p>\n Older adults may also be less comfortable with new technologies, which puts them at risk. Consider that someone who is 85 years old may have retired in the year 2004 \u2013\u00a0three years before Apple introduced the iPhone<\/a>. While many forms of technology have permeated our personal lives, it\u2019s often in the workplace that many people receive mandatory training \u2013 like how to avoid online scams.<\/p>\n In 2023,\u00a0tech-support scams<\/a>\u00a0were the most commonly reported type of elder fraud. Other common schemes include\u00a0romance scams<\/a>,\u00a0online shopping swindles<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0investment frauds<\/a>. While tech scams are the most common, investment scams are the costliest, accounting for\u00a0nearly half of all reported losses<\/a>\u00a0from those over 60 last year.<\/p>\nElder fraud is on the rise<\/h4>\n
The wide world of frauds<\/strong><\/h4>\n