Indiana Seniors Lost $36M to Fraud

New research from SEO agency MADX Digital, which looked at Federal Trade Commission data, reveals Indiana’s older residents lost over $36 million to fraud in 2025, with typical losses reaching $883 per victim. The agency said FTC data shows that elderly Americans aged 60 and over have lost a staggering $2.73 billion to fraud across the U.S. in 2025.

Indiana ranked 39th for senior fraud losses, with lower losses helping offset steady levels of fraud activity. The state recorded 7,904 reports and $36 million in losses, with 23.5 percent resulting in financial loss. The loss-per-victim amount of $883 was lower than neighbors Illinois ($1,005) and Ohio ($998), Indiana sits at the lower end of the regional spectrum in terms of financial damage.

Nationally, there were 442,536 reports of fraud among those aged 60 or more, with 24.5 percent of these resulting in a financial loss. MADX Digital (https://madx.digital/,) said that the total stolen runs into the billions, with losses per case varying widely depending on where victims live.

The “typical loss” figure reflects the average of median losses across age groups, rather than a simple average of total losses divided by reports.

Nebraska had the highest median fraud loss in the nation with 2,079 reports in 2025 with total losses of roughly $14.7 million. About 24 percent of those reports involved a financial loss, right at the national average, but when victims in this state do lose money they lose far more of it than anywhere else in the country, with a typical loss of $3,825 per victim, based on median losses across age groups.

That means a typical fraud victim in Nebraska loses roughly nine times more than one in Maine, which ranks last for financial impact with a typical loss of just $430.

Not far behind is Utah, where the typical loss of $3,271 came from 3,284 reports, with total losses topping $29.7 million. About one in four reports involved a financial loss, the same as the national average. Fraud in Utah succeeds at about the average rate. The difference is the cost per victim.

In third place, with a typical loss of $2,561, is South Dakota. The state filed just 935 fraud reports, one of the lowest totals in the country, but 28% of those involved a financial loss, well above the national average. Total losses came to about $6.9 million.

In Arizona, fully 32% of reports resulted in a financial loss, nearly eight percentage points above the national average. Across 14,116 reports the state’s victims lost a combined $128 million, with the typical loss per victim sitting at $2,467.

New Hampshire rounds out the top five. With a total of 3,495 filed reports, fewer than one in five complaints involved a monetary loss. That 19% rate is the second lowest of any state. Those who did lose money lost a typical $1,572, with total losses of about $11.4 million.

Texas had more complaints than any state except California and Florida (31,458 in all, with total losses of roughly $238 million) and about one in four ended with money changing hands. The typical loss per victim there was $1,571.

Maine ranks last for financial impact, with a typical loss of just $430 per victim, a fraction of what Nebraska’s victims hand over. It is, by that measure, the safest state in the country for older consumers who do fall victim. The state filed 2,250 reports with about $10.9 million in total losses. About 22% of reports involved a financial loss.

Investment fraud dwarfs every other category when it comes to the money older Americans lose. Categorized by the FTC as miscellaneous investments and advice, the category drew only 14,028 reports from older consumers, a small fraction of the total, but no other fraud type costs its victims anything close to as much. Total losses surpassed $1 billion, which is more than 38% of all fraud losses among older consumers, and the median victim handed over $23,418.

Romance scams are the second costliest per victim, with a median loss of $8,048. Romance victims collectively filed roughly 10,500 reports and lost $384.1 million between them. Fake check scams are a smaller category altogether, just 577 reports, but the median victim still lost $5,959 and total losses came to $8.4 million.

The sheer number of complaints looks quite different. Business impersonators generated the most complaints by far, with nearly 123,000 reports and $421.6 million in total losses; the typical victim, though, lost just $1,119. Government impersonators were the second most reported category (99,855 complaints) and the second costliest in total dollars at $447.4 million, but at a median of $4,116 per victim they were nearly four times more expensive per case. Tech support scams cost $126 million (21,735 reports, median $3,747) and prizes, sweepstakes and lottery scams $143.1 million (20,145 reports).

Online shopping fraud (41,309 complaints, $59.4 million in losses) had the lowest median loss of any category at just $107. Job scams (9,203 reports, $55.9 million) and family and friend impersonators (8,884 reports, $37.5 million) filled out the rest of the table.

“What stands out in states like Nebraska and Utah isn’t necessarily a higher volume of scams, but the scale of the damage when they do land,” Toni Koraza, founder of MADX Digital, said. “These are typically higher-value fraud types – often investment-related or long-running schemes where trust is built gradually. By the time money changes hands, the amounts involved are much larger. The variation between states is particularly telling. In some areas, scams are more frequent but involve relatively small sums, while in others they are less common but far more financially severe. That points to very different fraud ecosystems at play, which matters when it comes to prevention and awareness strategies. In a state like Indiana, where typical losses are below the national average, the risk often comes from the volume of lower-value scams rather than headline-grabbing investment fraud. Investment scams are a clear outlier. They are designed to feel legitimate over time, often involving repeated contact and convincing narratives that build credibility. That’s why the eventual losses are so high. On the other hand, things like online shopping scams are far more frequent but tend to involve smaller amounts. Individually they may seem less damaging, but at scale they still contribute to tens of millions in losses.”ReplyForward