Minnesota Elderly are Some of the Hardest Hit by Scams in the US

There was a study done recently that evaluated just how much money the elderly lost to scams in 2023. They broke it down by state and, unfortunately, Minnesota elderly were some of the hardest hit in the country.

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Protecting Yourself from Scams

Scams are everywhere! Just yesterday I got a scam phone call. Thankfully my phone was smart enough to tell me that it was likely a scam so I didn't answer. But scam phone calls happen all the time.

Scam emails are even more popular, though. The biggest thing I've learned about scam emails is that you have to look for any misspellings and you also should never click on any links that are provided. Even if you think there may be a chance it's real, don't click on it!

What you'll want to do is go directly to the website that the email is claiming to be and take a look there. So for example, if someone claiming to be with Netflix emails you and says click this link to avoid your account from being disconnected, don't click on it.

Instead, log into your Netflix and take a look at your account to see if you see anything on there indicating that your account could be disconnected. You can also reach out to customer service to check.

States Hardest Hit by Scams

People still get caught by scammers, though, and especially the elderly. The study, which was done by a company called Incogni, found how much money the elderly lost in 2023 in each state.

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They found that across the country in 2023, "US residents over the age of 60 lost a total of $3.4B to fraudsters and other criminals." That's up 10.6% compared to 2022.

The study also found that "a total of 101,068 reports" were filed by those over 60 last year. That number is up 14.5% compared to 2022.

Then Incogni broke down, by state, how much money people over 60 lost in 2023 per person. The top 10 states where the elderly were hit hardest by scammers include:

Louisiana - average of $42,170 lost per victim

Georgia - average of $43,719 lost per victim

Minnesota - average of $44,623 lost per victim

New York - average of $47,005 lost per victim

Illinois - average of $47,780 lost per victim

Delaware - average of $48,928 lost per victim

New Jersey - average of $50,799 lost per victim

California - average of $55,346 lost per victim

DC - average of $57,544 lost per victim

Hawaii - average of $61,734 lost per victim

Minnesota came in as the 8th hardest hit by scammers in 2023 with the average person over 60 years old losing $44,623. That's sad! It's important to make sure the elderly in our lives are aware of these issues and what to look out for to hopefully prevent this from happening more and more.