More than 1 million older adults lost almost $2 billion in the past year due to fraud schemes targeting them, according to the Department of Justice’s annual report on elder abuse and fraud.
The DOJ’s “Annual Report to Congress on Department of Justice Activities to Combat Elder Fraud and Abuse” report to Congress outlines its efforts from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025, to combat elder abuse, neglect, financial exploitation and fraud.
During that period, the department pursued more than 280 enforcement actions against more than 600 defendants charged with stealing almost $2 billion from more than one million older adults. The government said it supported more than 4,000 victim assistance organizations, which provided services to almost 200,000 older adult victims nationwide.
In an effort to strengthen its response to elder fraud and abuse, the DOJ held its first National Elder Abuse Multidisciplinary Team Summit, which gathered almost 400 elder abuse team members from across the country to share best practices for coordinated enforcement and improved services for older Americans.
Working with partners including the US Postal Inspection Service, state officials and Medicaid Fraud Control Units, as well as law enforcement, the department pursued more than 40 different types of elder fraud schemes.
The scam type with the highest financial losses for older adults — including senior living residents — was the investment scam, where older adults lost $1.8 billion. Tech support scams swindled older adults out of almost $1 billion, whereas confidence/romance and business email compromise schemes stole nearly $400 million each from older adults. Personal data breach schemes accounted for more than $250 million in losses for older adults, whereas government impersonation scams stole more than $200 million from older adults.
The department’s National Elder Fraud Hotline received almost 63,000 calls in the past year and helped older victims to report potential crimes and to local available resources and services.The four states with the highest number of calls were California, Florida, Texas and New York, with losses reaching almost $2 billion. The most common type of fraud reported in those calls were identity theft, business imposter and romance/confidence/celebrity scams.
Senior living cases
The fraud report also highlighted fraud against senior living residents and communities.
One case highlighted in the report, US v. Vito, involved an assisted living Medicaid coordinator who allegedly defrauded multiple Connecticut companies — including an assisted living community — out of more than $360,000 through similar fraud schemes as she moved from job to job. A federal grand jury returned a 17-count indictment on wire fraud and bank fraud charges against the woman in 2024.
In another case, US v. Hardy, a woman employed as a business office coordinator at two senior living communities allegedly exploited the resident fund management service for her personal benefit. The woman allegedly improperly accessed the system and issued 49 checks totaling almost $123,000 in resident accounts, making them payable to various family members and associates. She also reportedly exploited the system to generate petty cash payments for herself, generating additional losses for residents. The government is seeking up to $366,00 for those offenses.
FBI tracks cryptocurrency fraud
Cryptocurrency investment fraud is one of the most prevalent and damaging fraud schemes today, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Report 2024. The report stated a 29% increase in cryptocurrency investment frauds from 2023. Of those complaints, the IC3 received complaints from more than 8,000 older adults who had losses of more than $1.6 billion.
As of June 30, the FBI had notified almost 6,500 victims of cryptocurrency investment fraud, noting that 77% of those victims were unaware that they were being scammed. The FBI estimated that it saved victims $400 million.
The FBI’s IC3 Recovery Asset Team, a liaison between law enforcement and financial institutions, reported 370 fraud incidents involving older adults that totaled more than $38 million. The team, which freezes funds for victims who made transfers to domestic accounts under fraudulent pretenses, reported freezing more than $21 million in assets, a 56% success rate.
In 2024, the FBI’s IC3 Elder Fraud report found that total losses reported to IC3 by older adults topped $4.9 billion, an almost 43% increase in reported losses from 2023. There was also a 46% increase in complaints filed by IC3 by older victims. The top five reported frauds in the FBI’s IC3 Elder Fraud report were phishing/spoofing, tech support, extortion, personal data breaches and investment fraud. The top five highest fraud losses were seen in investment ($1.8 billion in losses), tech support ($1 billion), Confidence/romance ($389 million), business email compromise ($385 million) and personal data breaches ($254 million).
Meanwhile, the US Senate Special Committee on Aging released its annual fraud report over the summer, highlighting the growing financial threats older Americans face.
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