You might have heard that scams mostly affect older adults, but reports to the FTC tell a different story. Last year, adults under 60 — our Gen X, Millennial, and Gen Z neighbors — were more likely to report losing money to fraud than people 60 and over. And what did they report the most? Losing money to online shopping fraud, often when things pitched to them on social media never arrived.
Compared to older adults, those under 60 were more than four times as likely to report losing money on an investment scam, often a fake cryptocurrency investment opportunity, and more than five times as likely to report losing money to a job scam. Many college students reported losing money to phony job offers sent to their school email addresses. Overall, adults under 60 most often reported losing money to scams that star