A new report on consumer complaints, the Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2017, shows that people in their 20s are more likely to lose money to fraud than senior citizens. In its newest annual report, the Federal Trade Commission for the first time looked at fraud losses by age group, and found that 40 percent of people in their 20s who reported fraud indicated they lost money. By comparison, just 18 percent of people 70 and older who reported fraud said they lost any money.
But when senior citizens did lose money to a scam, their losses were greater. The median reported loss by seniors — meaning half lost more money and half lost less — was $1092. By comparison, the median loss for people in their 20s was $400. The report, which includes complaints from 2.7 million consumers, shows the top complaint was about debt collection. Although the number of these complaints dropped, they still made up 23 percent of all complaints. Identity theft was the second biggest category, with credit card and tax fraud being the two forms of identity theft that were most often reported. Imposter scams were the third most common scam, and generally the most expensive of any type of fraud. Imposter scams involve someone pretending to be a government official – such as an IRS representatitve, a tech support relative, or someone seeking money on behalf of a loved on in trouble.
