WASHINGTON, D.C. (WWLP)-- The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released its annual report to Congress on fraud among older adults. The report included the latest fraud trends, FTC cases and rulemakings that impacted older adults, and the results of educational outreach programs. 57 new officers join Massachusetts police forces The report, Protecting Older Consumers, 2023-2024, A Report of the Federal Trade Commission, highlights work from the Scams Against Older Adults Advisory Group, made up of four committees that targets industry training, research, education and outreach, and technology. The Industry Training Committee created a set of principles for effective employee training about scams, including examples that can be adapted for different sectors and business settings. The Scam Prevention Research Committee reviewed the research landscape on scam prevention messaging and shared their own takeaways and recommendations for much needed future research. The Consumer Education and Outreach Committee collaborated on a set of principles to guide any organization, of any size, in communicating with older adults and other target audiences. The Technology and New Methods Committee is exploring how technological tools might be used to disrupt scams, and the importance of sharing information about best practices. Key findings from the report include: Older adults (ages 60 and over) were less likely than younger adults (ages 18-59) to report losing money to fraud but more likely than younger adults to report losing money on tech support scams, prize, sweepstakes, and lottery scams, family and friend impersonation, and government impersonation. Older adults remained much less likely to report losing money to online shopping fraud than younger adults. Credit cards and gift cards were the fraud payment methods most frequentlyreported by older adults. Older adults reported losing over $1.9 billion to fraud in 2023 but that number may be higher as a large number of frauds are never reported. The number of older adults reporting losses of $100,000 or more has increased more than threefold since 2020. "Through our cases, rulemaking, and outreach, we’re taking every step we can to stop scams targeting older adults and help them protect themselves,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “This report highlights that work and the key actions of the working group formed under the Stop Senior Scams Act.” If you see or have been the victim of fraud, report it to the FTC.