The Justice Department says 712 defendants were charged with stealing, or are alleged to have stolen, $4,841,305,931 from 711,353 older victims in the year from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026. The figure comes from the department’s eighth annual Elder Justice Report, released Wednesday. It covers nearly 350 criminal and civil actions, and about 96% of them were criminal.
What the $4.84 billion figure counts
The department’s Civil Division, which publishes the report, describes the total as money stolen or alleged to have been stolen across every action in the period. That mixes cases already decided with cases still pending, so the sum is not a court-ordered loss and not a restitution total. The report itself notes that defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
About 45% of the actions involved international schemes, the department said. Seventy-eight percent of U.S. Attorney’s Offices took at least one elder justice enforcement action during the year, according to the annual report to Congress.
What happens in the first hours after a scam
Speed matters, the report says. Recovery gets harder after 72 hours, and a prompt report to the FBI’s IC3 or the FTC may help freeze funds, though that is not assured. The FBI’s Recovery Asset Team froze $32.9 million, or 50%, of $65.4 million in reported elder fraud losses it handled.
A family whose parent, grandparent or spouse has just sent money to a stranger faces two jobs at once: stopping further losses and making a report that investigators can use. The first call is to the bank or card issuer, then to the hotline described below, and then to IC3.gov or the FTC. Families who keep the dates, amounts, phone numbers and account details in one place give every one of those reports more to work with.
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Which scams cost the most
The report leans on FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center data for 2025 to show where older Americans lost the most. Investment fraud led at $3.52 billion, followed by tech and customer support scams at $1.04 billion, romance and confidence schemes at $584 million, and business email compromise at $568 million. Government impersonation accounted for $413 million, and cryptocurrency alone for $4.35 billion of older adults’ losses.
The cases it highlights show how the schemes work. One defendant sold lists of more than 7 million older Americans to scammers and earned over $5.2 million; he was sentenced to 121 months. Another led a tech-support and refund operation that took $27 million from more than 2,000 victims and drew a 151-month sentence.
Not every case involves strangers. The report also describes a man acting under a power of attorney who drained an 89-year-old’s assets, ordered to pay $411,773.51 in restitution, and two caretakers who took nearly $500,000 from a woman receiving in-home care.
Does any of the money come back?
Money does come back in some cases. The Justice Department said more than $436.9 million has now gone to over 180,000 victims through the Western Union remission program, and the Asset Forfeiture Program returned more than $5.5 million to victims in the past year. Victims of Crime Act funded organizations allocated $52 million to elder abuse victim services.
Where to report: the National Elder Fraud Hotline
The Justice Department points people to the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 833-372-8311, also written 833-FRAUD-11. The Office for Victims of Crime runs the line as a free service for reports of fraud against people 60 or older. It is staffed Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern, in English, Spanish and other languages.
Callers are assigned a case manager who helps with reports at the federal, state and local levels and refers them to other services. The hotline logged 87,800 calls during the reporting period, according to the report.
The office also warns that scammers have posed as hotline staff, threatening lawsuits to pressure people into handing over personal information or money. Anyone who gets such a call should not give out a Social Security number or send money, and should report it to the FTC and then to the real hotline number.
What the Justice Department says to do
In letters opening the report, Attorney General Todd Blanche and National Elder Justice Coordinator Andy Mao pledged to pursue people who harm older Americans, with transnational fraud a stated priority. The report pairs that with plain consumer advice: do not respond to unsolicited calls, emails or texts, and never send money to someone unknown.
- Government agencies will never ask anyone to move money to protect it, keep a conversation secret, or pay for a government grant.
- Investments should be checked through Investor.gov or the CFTC before any money moves.
- Nobody should pay a fee to recover lost funds.
- Nursing home abuse can be reported to the HHS Nursing Home Hotline at 1-800-447-8477, to Adult Protective Services or to a Long-Term Care Ombudsman.
The department’s Elder Justice Initiative page carries the full report and further resources for families and caregivers.
Is a relative’s money already on its way out?
The report’s own numbers put the clock at about 72 hours before recovery gets harder. A family that spends the first day searching for phone numbers, account details and what to say can lose the window in which money is sometimes frozen.
“The Senior Fraud Defense & First-Hour Recovery Kit” lays out the first-hour recovery plan, a fraud evidence and report log and the free credit-freeze steps in one place. Part 3, “Reporting, and What Each Report Does,” explains what each call or form leads to, so the order of reports is settled before the panic starts.
Get the Fraud Defense Kit’s first-hour plan for a scammed relative →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
