Scammers bilked older Americans out of $3.4 billion last year, often using cryptocurrency (bitcoin fraud)

More than 12,000 adults 60 years of age and older reported being victims of bitcoin fraud.

TFD – Explore the increasing threat of bitcoin fraud on senior citizens, affecting over 12,000 victims. Learn about the tactics used and the assistance available to combat these digital scams.

According to a recent FBI analysis, at least 101,000 Americans who are 60 years of age or older fell victim to digital fraud last year, with the average victim losing $33,915.

The biggest dollar-amount losses came from scams involving bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, the report said.

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has been disseminating data on the amount of cybercrime’s impact on senior citizens since at least 2018.

In 2023, the IC3 office received 101,068 complaints from this population, up 11% from the year prior and nearly even with the high seen in 2020.

Losses totaled about $3.4 billion — with nearly 40% of that involving cryptocurrencies alone, totaling $1.33 billion, IC3 said.

More than 12,000 victims ages 60 and older indicated cryptocurrency was “a medium or tool used to facilitate” the fraud they fell victim to, the agency said.

In March, the FBI issued a separate report warning of a spike in cryptocurrency schemes. These often begin with a romance or confidence scam and evolve into cryptocurrency investment fraud, the agency said.

Criminals use fictitious identities to develop relationships and build rapport with victims,” it stated. “Criminals target victims using dating applications (apps), social media platforms, professional networking sites, or encrypted messaging apps.”

Overall, the number of complaints from senior victims increased by 14% in 2023.

“Combatting the financial exploitation of those over 60 years of age continues to be a priority of the FBI,” said Assistant Director Michael D. Nordwall, who leads the bureau’s Criminal Investigative Division. “We never stop working with our partners to help victims and to find and look into the people and criminal groups that carry out these schemes and prey on the elderly.”

Call center or tech support scams remained the most prevalent fraud category among people aged 60 and over, accounting for 58% of money losses and over half of all complaints made by this demographic. In these schemes, con artists impersonate tech support or customer service agents from respectable, well-known businesses to persuade victims that their cash need to be transferred because an account has been compromised.

In order to pay losses from these frauds, victims have reported selling their homes, draining retirement funds, and taking out loans from friends and family.

Some incidents have resulted in suicide because of shame or loss of sustainable income, the FBI said.

To contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, dial 988, if you or someone you know is experiencing a crisis. Additional services include texting HOME to 741741 to reach the Crisis Text Line, calling 800-273-8255, or visiting SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources. The network was formerly known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.