States Where Seniors Lose the Most to Cybercrime [Data] | #cybercrime | #infosec

Older Americans are the most profitable target in online crime, and the losses are staggering. Last year, adults 60 and older filed 195,849 internet crime complaints with the FBI, reporting more than $7.4 billion in losses. That amounts to 236 cybercrime reports for every 100,000 people over the age of 60 and an average loss of $37,904 per victim.

Elder fraud rates were much higher in some states than in others. Arizona had the highest concentration at 501.2 complaints per 100,000 seniors, while victims in California lost an average of $63,365 each.

To find where older Americans are most at risk, the All About Cookies research team analyzed the FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report to see the states where cybercrimes targeting seniors were reported most and least frequently last year.

Key findings

• Adults 60 and older filed 195,849 cybercrime complaints in 2025, and monetary losses from those reports totaled more than $7.4 billion.
• Arizona has the highest report rate, at 501.2 complaints per 100,000 seniors. The lowest is in Mississippi, at 131.8 reports per 100K.
• Investment fraud accounted for about 47% of all senior losses. All told, seniors lost more than $3.5 billion to investment scams last year across nearly 17,000 complaints, averaging $207,923 lost per complaint.
• The most common complaint type among seniors was phishing/spoofing, with 48,064 reports.

States where seniors are targeted most

Nationally, seniors filed 236 cybercrime complaints per 100,000 adults aged 60 and older in 2025, and several states report significantly higher rates.

Arizona leads the nation at 501.2 complaints per 100,000 seniors, followed by Alaska (422.3), Utah (398.1), and Nevada (384.1). Many of the top states are popular retirement and Sun Belt destinations, where large, concentrated senior populations give scammers a wider pool of potential victims.

Unlike cybersecurity complaints submitted by the younger generations, high senior complaint rates tend to come with serious financial damage. In Nevada, for example, the average loss per senior complaint was $38,320, underscoring how much using one of the best identity theft protection tools matters most for the people with the most to lose.

States with the highest rate of senior cybercrime complaints

1. Arizona

• Complaints per 100,000 seniors: 501.2
• Total complaints: 9,834
• Average loss per complaint: $34,979

2. Alaska

• Complaints per 100,000 seniors: 422.3
• Total complaints: 666
• Average loss per complaint: $24,403

3. Utah

• Complaints per 100,000 seniors: 398.1
• Total complaints: 2,341
• Average loss per complaint: $28,170

4. Nevada

• Complaints per 100,000 seniors: 384.1
• Total complaints: 3,008
• Average loss per complaint: $38,320

5. District of Columbia

• Complaints per 100,000 seniors: 312.9
• Total complaints: 382
• Average loss per complaint: $26,380

Where cybercrime against seniors costs the most

Complaint rates show where seniors are targeted most frequently, but average losses show where the damage is most severe.

California tops the list at an average loss of $63,365 per complaint, followed by New Jersey ($60,766) and Hawaii ($60,399). High-dollar schemes like romance and dating scams, tech-support fraud, and cryptocurrency investment fraud drive these averages, often wiping out retirement savings in a single case.

States with the highest average loss per senior cybercrime complaint

1. California

• Total complaints: 22,157
• Total losses: $1,403,975,918
• Average loss per complaint: $63,365

2. New Jersey

• Total complaints: 4,111
• Total losses: $249,808,786
• Average loss per complaint: $60,766

3. Hawaii

• Total complaints: 917
• Total losses: $55,385,929
• Average loss per complaint: $60,399

4. New York

• Total complaints: 8,537
• Total losses: $408,741,632
• Average loss per complaint: $47,879

5. Texas

• Total complaints: 14,410
• Total losses: $678,564,081
• Average loss per complaint: $47,090

The most common scams targeting seniors

Seniors face a wide mix of scams, but a few dominate the complaint counts.

Phishing and spoofing top the list with 48,064 complaints, or about 29% of categorized senior complaints, followed by tech and customer-support scams (21,333) and investment fraud (16,926). While phishing is the most frequent, the average loss is comparatively small at $1,602, whereas tech support fraud and investment schemes are both far more common among seniors than among people in any other age group and far more damaging.

Most common cybercrime complaint types among seniors

1. Phishing/spoofing

• Complaints: 48,064
• Total losses: $77,020,936
• Average loss per complaint: $1,602

2. Tech/customer support

• Complaints: 21,333
• Total losses: $1,040,730,043
• Average loss per complaint: $48,785

3. Investment

• Complaints: 16,926
• Total losses: $3,519,296,354
• Average loss per complaint: $207,923

4. Personal data breach

• Complaints: 11,705
• Total losses: $324,470,413
• Average loss per complaint: $27,721

5. Confidence/romance

• Complaints: 10,188
• Total losses: $584,032,745
• Average loss per complaint: $57,326

The scams that cost seniors the most

A single category dwarfs all others when it comes to money lost, showing just how costly it can be to fall for online scams.

Investment fraud alone accounts for about 47% of all senior losses with an average loss of $207,923 per victim. Tech-support scams also cost seniors more than $1 billion, while romance scammers took $584 million, and business email scams accounted for $568 million in losses.

Cybercrime types with the highest losses among seniors in 2024

1. Investment

• Complaints: 16,926
• Total losses: $3,519,296,354
• Average loss per complaint: $207,923

2. Tech/customer support

• Complaints: 21,333
• Total losses: $1,040,730,043
• Average loss per complaint: $48,785

3. Confidence/romance

• Complaints: 10,188
• Total losses: $584,032,745
• Average loss per complaint: $57,326

4. Business email compromise (BEC)

• Complaints: 4,566
• Total losses: $568,048,472
• Average loss per complaint: $124,408

5. Government impersonation

• Complaints: 8,628
• Total losses: $413,206,251
• Average loss per complaint: $47,891

Why cybercrime against seniors is so costly

Seniors are targeted aggressively because they often have the most to take. Several factors explain why their losses dwarf those of every other age group:

• Many have retirement savings, home equity, and strong credit
• Romance, tech-support, and government-impersonation scams disproportionately target older adults
• Investment and cryptocurrency fraud drive the largest individual losses, and those scams benefit most from targeting victims with established savings
• Newer scam tactics can be harder to recognize for those less familiar with them

The result is a stark gap: seniors lost an average of $37,904 per complaint last year, nearly 38 times the $1,008 average for minors.

Because a single scam can erase years of savings, layered protections such as identity theft monitoring, a top password manager, and antivirus software are especially important for older adults and the family members who help manage their finances.

Senior cybercrime by state

Below is the full breakdown of cybercrime complaints involving adults 60 and older by state.

Senior cybercrime by number of reports and monetary losses

Below is the full breakdown of how often different cybercrimes targeting seniors were reported as well as how much money victims lost to each type of crime.

How to protect older adults from online scams

• Protect yourself from identity theft: Identity theft targeting seniors can be costly, so taking proactive steps to monitor your data and protect against this kind of crime can go a long way.
• Use secure passwords: Using strong, unique passwords and one of the best password managers for seniors on banking and email accounts makes it far harder for criminals to gain access.
• Be wary of scammers targeting Social Security: There are a number of prominent Social Security scams that target seniors specifically. Knowing how to recognize and avoid these kinds of fraud can keep funds secure in retirement.

Methodology

The All About Cookies research team analyzed the FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report, focusing on sections detailing crimes targeting victims aged 60 and older. Data from the U.S. Census was used to calculate the number of complaints per 100,000 seniors in each state.

Average loss is total reported losses divided by the number of complaints. Crime-type figures come from the report’s complaint-type breakdown for this age group; because a single complaint can be tagged with more than one type, the type totals exceed the overall complaint count, and shares are calculated against categorized complaints.