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According to data presented by Atlas VPN, Americans over 60 years old lost a staggering $966 million to various types of internet scams in 2020. In other climes with high number of elderly people perceptibly comfortable, the statistics could be no less frightening.
Edward Garb, Cybersecurity Researcher at Atlas VPN, explains why fraudsters focus on older generations:
“Not only do cybercriminals target victims over the age of 60 because they are believed to have significant financial resources, but also because elders tend to lack knowledge about basic internet security practices.”
Americans ages 60 and older submitted 105,301 complaints to the FBI and reported a total of $966 million in monetary damages last year. Meaning, on average, older citizens lose $9,174 per scam. Looking at monetary damages on a day-by-day basis, elders lost around $2.65 million daily in 2020.
US citizens ages 50-59 lost nearly $849 million from 85,967 reported scams in 2020. Average financial losses per scam are even bigger, amounting to an average of $9,863 per complaint.
Next up, people ages 40-49 also lost a huge amount of money to cybercriminals, totaling $717 million from 91,568 reports. In other words, this demographic loses around $7,832 every time they fall victim to internet scams.
Even though Americans ages 30-39 reported a similar number of scams at 88,364, their losses are substantially lower than all previous groups, at $492 million in losses in 2020. In turn, their reported losses per complaint are also smaller, reaching around $5,570.
Internet users ages 20-29 suffered over $197 million in financial losses from 70,791 reported internet crime cases, which means that generally, victims in this demographic suffer $2,788 in damages when they get scammed online.
To read the full article, head over to:
https://atlasvpn.com/blog/elderly-people-lost-nearly-1-billion-to-internet-crime-in-2020
