Two Sedgwick County residents in their 60s learned recently that online dating can be expensive — when the other party is a scammer.
After meeting the victims separately through a legitimate online dating platform, this fraudster began texting them and eventually persuaded them to send money in the form of cashier’s checks to various banks and addresses across the United States. The payments were then funneled to Ghana.
One victim sent a cashier’s check for $15,000 to an address in Colorado. Another sent $57,000 in two cashier’s checks.
“The man literally lost his farm, worth about $750,000, as a result of this scam,” District Attorney Marc Bennett said.
Investigators in Bennett’s office tracked down several more victims of the same scammer, but they were unwilling to cooperate.
So-called romance scams are just one of many ways in which seniors are being defrauded of money as part of an escalating problem. According to a new report from the Federal Trade Commission called “Protecting Older Consumers 2024-25”:
• Adults 60 and over reported losses of about $2.4 billion in 2024, compared to $600 million in 2020.
• Older victims lost more, on average, than younger victims. This was especially true of people 80 and over, whose median reported loss exceeded $1,600.
• Investment scams cost older adults far more than any other type of fraud, with victims often targeted through social media. Older victims were also more likely to lose money on scams involving tech support, prizes, sweepstakes, lotteries, romance and government impersonation.
Losses over $100,000
“This increase (in fraud losses) was largely driven by reports of losses over $100,000, often to investment scams, romance scams, or impersonations,” the report’s introduction reads. “As many frauds go unreported, the overall cost of fraud to older adults is estimated to be between $10.1 billion and $81.5 billion, depending on methodology.”
At the state level, the Kansas Department of Insurance reported that $10.5 million was reported lost by seniors in the fiscal year ending June 30. As a result of a new law, the Protect Vulnerable Adults from Financial Exploitation Act, 140 cases were reported to the state during that 12-month period, with the average age of victims being 73. Another $4.97 million in attempted fraud was prevented by the act.
Bennett’s office recently investigated an investment scam. A victim in his 70s saw an advertisement on social media claiming investors could make an extra $500 per day by trading cryptocurrency. After responding to the ad, the man set up an account and was invited into an investment group through a popular messaging application known as WhatsApp. The victim was sent a link to an exchange to begin trading crypto. He successfully made a small withdrawal from his account, which convinced him the exchange was legitimate, but after investing larger amounts, he found himself unable to withdraw any more money. He wound up losing $25,000.
The FTC report indicates that many older adults are attuned to the risk of fraud. Seniors were more likely to report fraud and attempted fraud than younger people in 2024, and in nearly three-fourths of those cases, the reporting party did not experience a loss. In fact, a smaller percentage of older adults lost money to fraudsters than people 18-59 did. “This …suggests that older adults may be more likely to avoid losing money when exposed to fraud, more inclined to report fraud when no loss has occurred, or a combination of those or other factors,” the report states.
High pressure
But seniors who did lose money lost more of it, on average, than younger victims. Bennett said there’s a logic to that. “This notion that somehow old people are uniquely subjected to victimization is not true. Young people get scammed all the time. The difference is they have 14 dollars in their checking account. You get hold of (an older person) and they’ve got a couple hundred thousand in the bank and they get a high-pressure call, this a fantastic opportunity” for a scammer.
The FTC report offered insights into other ways in which scams affect older residents. For instance, seniors were five times more likely than younger people to report losing money on a tech support scam. A near-victim of one such scam explained to The Active Age how it happened. She was having problems with her Microsoft 365/Outlook computer program while in the process of retiring and moving content from her work to personal computer. Unable to find a customer service number on the Microsoft website, she googled “Microsoft customer service” and found a 1-888 number. On the other end, a woman and man with strong foreign accents said her money could be refunded but they needed her bank account information. Although reluctant, she provided it. The scammers then told her there had been an error in the refund process and she now owed them $10,000. Finally realizing she was being scammed, the woman hung up and called her bank’s fraud department. She avoided losing any money but after freezing her bank accounts, the process of opening new ones and setting up auto-payments and direct deposits took several months. “I’m still embarrassed to even recount the story,” she said. “I had been schooled to think that the threats would be initiated by others. Now I know to be leery all the time.”
That might sound paranoid, but when it comes to financial transactions with people you don’t know, or hardly know, it’s probably not.
‘Pause, reflect, protect’
Julie Wilson, a volunteer for AARP who makes fraud awareness presentations across Kansas, said she often hears from people who’ve been targeted by scammers impersonating someone from a government entity, law enforcement organization, utility or bank. The intended victim is told that he’s forgotten to pay a bill, ticket or some other charge.
“They usually spew a lot of facts,” Wilson said. “They’ll make it sound super authoritative. They work people up, get them into what we call the ether. It gets them to react.”
Wilson’s advice is to just hang up the phone before taking any action or supplying any personal information. If you think there’s a chance the call was legitimate, find a number for the entity in question from a reliable source, call it and explain the situation. The key is not to give in to a sense of urgency.
“AARP has a great new saying: ‘Pause, reflect and protect,’” Wilson said.
Both aarp.org and the Federal Trade Commission website — ftc.gov — carry extensive information about scams and strategies for avoiding them. AARP’s site also has a “scam-tracking map” that allows people to track scams being perpetrated in the area where they live.
Reported senior losses by fraud type in 2024
(Followed by change from 2023)
Investment scams — $744 million (+38%)
Business imposters — $377 million (+21%)
Government imposters — $375 million (+47%)
Romance scams — $329 million (+19%)
Tech support scams — $159 million (-9%)
Prizes, sweepstakes & lotteries — $145 million (+13%)
Online shopping — $49 million (-22%)
Vacation & travel — $35 million (+62%)
Fake check scams — $34 million (-42%)
Job scams & employment agencies — $33 million (+288%)
Source: Federal Trade Commission
Method of contact
These were the top contact methods used by fraudsters, ranked by total dollar loss. The highest average individual losses were experienced by victims contacted by phone.
Social media
Phone call
Website or app
Text
Online ad or pop-up
How they paid
Here are the ways victims paid fraudsters, ranked by total losses. Credit cards and gift cards were the most frequently used methods.
Bank transfer or payment
Cryptocurrency
Cash
Gift card
Check
Wire transfer
Credit cards
Payment app or service
Debit card
Money order
