Younger Adults 34% More Likely to Lose Money to Fraud

Younger people are more likely than older adults to report losing money to fraud.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported Thursday (Dec. 8) in a Data Spotlight that adults between the ages of 18 and 59 were 34% more likely than those 60 and older to report experiencing scams in 2021.

However, among those who reported fraud, older adults reported much higher median individual losses, with those of ages 70 to 79 losing $800 and those 80 and over losing $1,500. The median loss reported by people of ages 18 to 59 was $500, the FTC said.

The age groups tend to be affected by different types of fraud, according to the Data Spotlight.

Younger adults were 86% more likely than older ones to report losses to online shopping fraud, 330% more likely to report investment scams and 448% more likely to report job scams and employment agencies.

These frauds often took the form of items ordered online not being delivered, bogus cryptocurrency investment opportunities and scams that start with receiving a message at their student email address about a so-called job opportunity, the FTC said.

Older adults were more likely to report other types of fraud. They were 398% more likely than younger ones to report tech support scams and 126% more likely to report prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries.

These frauds include scammers impersonating companies’ tech support staff and asking for money to fix a problem that doesn’t exist and posing as well-known businesses and requesting money to claim nonexistent winnings, per the FTC.

This news comes about two weeks after another FTC report that found that “imposter calls” topped its latest complaint list. These calls include both live calls and robocalls in which callers pose as IRS or Social Security officials, legitimate businesses or even people they know.

The FTC said at the time that “Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology allows callers, including law-breakers, to make higher volumes of calls inexpensively from anywhere in the world.”