Research digests · Scams and fraud

FTC Protecting Older Consumers report 2025: what it found

By awareretailgroup.com Editorial· Edited by Tom Walsh· Published 2026-09-25

The FTC’s Protecting Older Consumers report found that people 60 and over reported fraud losses of nearly $2.4 billion (FTC). The reported median individual loss for people ages 60 and over was $900, up from $650 in 2023, and for people 80 and over it was $1,650 (FTC). Credit cards and gift cards were the fraud payment methods most frequently reported by older adults (FTC).

What it measured

The report draws on the same Consumer Sentinel reports that feed the annual Data Book, filtered to people who gave their age. It compares reporting rates, loss totals, and median losses across age bands, and it looks at which scam types and which payment methods older adults report most. Like the Data Book, it counts reports, so the totals are a floor.

Headline findings

Losses by older adults are large. Reported losses from people 60 and over totaled nearly $2.4 billion (FTC).

Median losses rose with age. The reported median individual loss for people ages 60 and over was $900, up from $650 in 2023, and for people 80 and over the reported median individual loss was $1,650 (FTC). Median matters more than the total for a store, because it describes a typical transaction size, and a gift card purchase in that range is exactly what shows up at a register.

Gift cards are a top payment method. Credit cards and gift cards were the fraud payment methods most frequently reported by older adults (FTC). Of those, gift cards are the method a store associate can interrupt, because the purchase happens in front of them.

How to use it in a program

The report gives a cashier a picture of who may be standing at the register. An older customer buying several gift cards, on the phone, with a story about a grandchild in trouble or a government fine, matches the pattern the report describes. The training response is not to profile by age; it is to recognize the transaction pattern and to have a script. That script, and the store rule on when to pause a sale, are in gift card scam awareness training for cashiers.

• Add the median loss figures to the cashier training deck so the typical transaction size is concrete.
• Write a script for pausing a gift card sale that is respectful of an older customer and does not accuse.
• Name the manager a cashier calls, and make sure that manager knows the script too.
• Put a scam warning at the gift card display and at the register, built as one behavior, one image, one line.
• Log every paused gift card sale with the customer’s stated reason and no personal details, so the store can see the pattern.
• Remind associates that the response is observe, pause, and report. Never argue with the customer about the caller, and never follow them.

Limits

The report counts what older adults reported, and older adults may report at different rates than younger ones. It does not measure how many scams were stopped at a register. It does not break down gift card losses by retailer or by card brand, and the payment-method finding groups credit cards with gift cards. A store should treat the report as evidence that the gift card rack is where older customers are being sent, not as a measure of its own exposure. For the wider set of scam patterns and state laws, see the scams and fraud topic hub.