According to a new report from the Idaho Department of Finance, Idahoans lost $88 million to scammers last year, with fraud targeting seniors doubling from 2024 to 2025.
Data from the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center shows Idahoans over 60 lost about $37.4 million to scams in 2025, up from $18.7 million the year before.
“We know that most people don't report, due to shame or not being able to recover their funds,” said Celia Kinney, the consumer affairs program coordinator at the department. “So this is a very small slice of what's actually going on.”
While seniors represented a quarter of complaints, they accounted for 42% of the losses reported in Idaho. On average, they lost a staggering $33,000 per scam.
Seniors were particularly vulnerable to investment and tech support scams, as well as government impersonation and romance hoaxes. The department also saw a sharp uptick in cryptocurrency scams, which accounted for more than half of the reported losses in the state in 2025.
Isolated individuals are more at risk of being victimized – and seniors can be particularly vulnerable – but scammers go after people of all ages, Kinney said.
“This is their full-time job and with AI, it just makes it that much more automated," she added. “Unfortunately with seniors, because they have life savings built up, they're the biggest targets.”
In a press release, IDOF announced upcoming informational sessions to inform the public on how to prevent fraud.
“Scam tactics are also rapidly evolving from spoofed calls and phishing emails to investment chats on messaging apps, cryptocurrency kiosks in local stores, and AI-generated voices mimicking loved ones,” the release reads, adding artificial intelligence has not necessarily created new categories of fraud. Rather, it has made it harder to spot.
While AI can more convincingly impersonate real people, websites or governmental agencies, Kinney said consumers can still keep an eye out for warning signs that never change: urgency, secrecy, unusual payment methods and requests to move funds around to protect them.
“No bank or government agency is going to ask you to move your money to keep it safe,” she said, adding that legitimate businesses will not ask consumers to convert their checking account money into cryptocurrency, buy gift cards, wire cash to a foreign account or hand off gold to a courier.
The best way to check legitimacy is to not rush into a transaction and check in with another person.
“If you have a little bit of a gut instinct or you feel like this might be a scam, stop and tell someone,” Kinney said.
The Senior Fraud and Exploitation Prevention events will take place in six cities in September and are open to the public:
- Star- Star Riverhouse- Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, 1-3 p.m.
- Payette- Payette Public Library- Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026, 1-3 p.m.
- Rexburg- Madison County Senior Citizens Center- Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, 12:15-2:15 p.m.
- Burley- Burley Public Library- Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, 1-3 p.m.
- Nampa- Nampa Public Library- Monday, Sept.21, 2026, 11 AM- 1 p.m.
- Boise- Dick Eardley Senior Center- Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026, 1-3 p.m.
Find more information here.
