The FBI's Latest Report on Elder Fraud

The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) processes fraud complaints from across the United States and publishes specialized reports on crimes affecting specific populations. The Elder Fraud Report — covering Americans aged 60 and older — has become an essential document for policymakers, law enforcement, family advocates, and anyone concerned about protecting elderly loved ones from financial crime.

What the IC3 Elder Fraud Report Covers

The report aggregates complaints voluntarily submitted to ic3.gov by victims or on their behalf. It captures internet-facilitated crimes: online scams, phone-based fraud with digital payment methods, email phishing, and any fraud where the internet played a role. This means it captures a broad range of elder fraud but does not cover purely in-person financial exploitation or crimes never reported to the FBI.

The report provides annual totals for complaint volume and financial losses, breakdowns by fraud category, per-victim average losses, state-by-state distributions, and narrative descriptions of emerging trends. It is the single most comprehensive federal snapshot of elder fraud available to the public.

Key Findings from the 2023 Report

The 2023 Elder Fraud Report documented 92,000 complaints from Americans aged 60 and older — an increase from prior years. Total losses reported by this age group reached $3.4 billion, representing a disproportionate share of total IC3 losses given that adults over 60 represent approximately 22% of the US population.

The geographic concentration of losses aligned with population centers. California, Florida, and Texas accounted for the highest total losses in absolute terms, reflecting their large overall and senior populations. When examined on a per-capita basis for senior residents, Florida showed particularly elevated rates of investment fraud victimization.

The report's most striking single figure is the average loss per senior victim: $35,101. This compares to an average loss of approximately $5,048 for fraud victims under 60 — meaning seniors lose nearly seven times as much per incident. This reflects both the higher value of assets available to seniors and the types of fraud they experience most frequently, including long-running investment schemes and romance scams that extract money over extended periods.

Top Fraud Categories Affecting Seniors

Investment fraud generated the highest total losses among the elderly in 2023, surpassing $1.7 billion. This category includes cryptocurrency investment scams (often called "pig butchering," in which fraudsters cultivate trust before steering victims toward fake investment platforms), fraudulent broker accounts, and Ponzi-style investment opportunities spread through social media. Many victims in this category were relatively financially sophisticated — the scams are designed to be credible to people who understand investment concepts.

Tech support fraud generated the highest complaint volume among seniors. These scams typically begin with a pop-up warning or unsolicited phone call claiming the victim's computer has been compromised. The "technician" gains remote access and, in many documented cases, uses that access to transfer funds directly or to capture banking credentials for later use.

Government impersonation remains a significant category, with fraudsters posing as IRS agents, Social Security Administration employees, Medicare representatives, and law enforcement. These scams rely on fear and authority to compel immediate payment through wire transfer, cryptocurrency, or gift cards.

Confidence and romance fraud generated some of the highest per-victim losses in the elder fraud category, with many documented cases involving losses of $100,000 or more after months-long relationships built entirely through online communication.

The FBI's Elder Justice Initiative

In response to the scale of elder fraud, the FBI established the Elder Justice Initiative, which coordinates with local field offices to prioritize elder fraud investigations, provide training to law enforcement on elder fraud indicators, and conduct public awareness campaigns. The initiative works alongside the Department of Justice's Elder Justice Initiative and the FTC's fraud reporting systems.

The FBI also operates a network of field office resources specifically for elder fraud, and the report encourages victims and families to report directly to their local FBI field office in addition to filing with IC3, particularly for losses exceeding $100,000.

How to File a Complaint with IC3

The IC3 complaint process is straightforward and available at ic3.gov. Anyone can file a complaint — the victim, a family member, or a caregiver acting on the victim's behalf. The complaint should include as much detail as possible: dates of contact, communication methods used, names or usernames of the fraudster, payment methods and amounts, and any account information provided.

After filing, complaints are reviewed and may be referred to federal, state, or local law enforcement agencies. Individual complaint investigations are not guaranteed, but the data aggregated from complaints is used to identify patterns, issue public warnings, and build cases against high-volume fraud operations.

The Gap Between Reported and Actual Losses

Every researcher and law enforcement official who works in elder fraud acknowledges the same uncomfortable reality: the IC3 data captures a small minority of actual losses. Estimates of underreporting rates vary, but research consistently suggests that fewer than 1 in 20 elder fraud incidents is ever formally reported, and AARP data suggests the ratio may be as low as 1 in 44.

This means the $3.4 billion figure, alarming as it is, likely represents somewhere between 2% and 5% of total elder fraud losses. The true annual toll on American seniors from online fraud may be measured not in billions but in tens of billions of dollars.

The International Dimension

The FBI report consistently notes that the majority of elder fraud perpetrators operate from outside the United States. Large-scale tech support fraud operations have been traced to India; romance scam and investment fraud operations often originate in West Africa, Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe. This international dimension creates significant prosecution challenges: even when perpetrators are identified, cross-border legal cooperation is slow, extradition is uncertain, and asset recovery is nearly impossible.

The FBI's recommendation for prevention mirrors what GrannySafe was built around: protection at the point of contact, before any money changes hands. Once funds leave a victim's account — particularly via wire transfer or cryptocurrency — recovery is exceedingly rare.

For broader context on these statistics, see our analysis of online scam statistics 2026. For guidance on what to do if fraud has already occurred, read our guide on how to report an online scam.