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Scams can hit anyone at any age, but falling victim to fraud is especially painful for retirees, many of whom are counting on the fixed income from their nest eggs and Social Security benefits to last through retirement.

According to Federal Trade Commission data, 1.1 million frauds were reported in 2017, with 21% of the fraud victims suffering a financial loss. Fraud losses for all ages totaled $905 million in 2017, with a median loss of $429 per victim. Retirement-age fraud victims tend to lose more money to scams than younger victims. The median fraud loss was $500 for victims in their 60s, $621 for victims in their 70s, and $1,092 for victims 80 and over. More than 107,000 Americans ages 60 to 69 reported being victims of fraud last year, the highest total of any age range tracked by the FTC.

So how are retirees being swindled? In more ways than you can imagine. Here are some of the most common scams being run today, along with advice from fraud experts on how to avoid getting ripped off.

Bob Niedt
Contributor

Bob was Senior Editor at Kiplinger.com for seven years and is now a contributor to the website. He has more than 40 years of experience in online, print and visual journalism. Bob has worked as an award-winning writer and editor in the Washington, D.C., market as well as at news organizations in New York, Michigan and California. Bob joined Kiplinger in 2016, bringing a wealth of expertise covering retail, entertainment, and money-saving trends and topics. He was one of the first journalists at a daily news organization to aggressively cover retail as a specialty and has been lauded in the retail industry for his expertise. Bob has also been an adjunct and associate professor of print, online and visual journalism at Syracuse University and Ithaca College. He has a master’s degree from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and a bachelor’s degree in communications and theater from Hope College.