RetirementScamGuide.com exists because elder fraud has become an $11.3 billion annual crisis — and most of the people affected don't have easy access to clear, current, trustworthy information about what to watch for and what to do.
"To give every American 50 and older — and the family members who love them — the clearest possible understanding of the fraud threats they face, and the most actionable guidance for staying safe and recovering if something goes wrong."
RetirementScamGuide.com is an independent consumer education website focused exclusively on the fraud threats that most affect adults in or approaching retirement. We don't sell financial products, we're not affiliated with any government agency, and we have no financial relationship with any company whose services might appear in our content beyond clearly disclosed affiliate arrangements.
Adults 50 and older lost $11.3 billion to fraud in 2025 — adults 50–59 accounted for $3.6 billion and adults 60 and older accounted for $7.7 billion. More than 12,000 victims 60 and older each lost over $100,000.
These aren't abstract statistics. They represent retirement savings built over decades, now gone. They represent people whose financial security — and in some cases health and housing — was destroyed by professional criminal operations that deliberately targeted them.
We built this site because the information needed to prevent these losses exists — buried in FBI annual reports, FTC advisories, IRS bulletins, and academic research — but it isn't organised or presented in a way that most people can easily find and use. Our job is to do that organising and presenting, as clearly and specifically as possible, for the people who need it most.
Every statistic links to the FBI IC3 report, FTC data, or another primary government source. We don't quote statistics from other aggregators without tracing them back to original research.
Fraud tactics change constantly. We update articles when new annual reports are released and add alerts as new scams emerge. Every page shows its last-updated date.
Some links to identity protection, credit monitoring, and other services may earn us a commission at no cost to you. These are clearly disclosed. Commercial relationships never determine editorial content.
Our protective guidance follows FTC, FBI, SSA, IRS, and CMS recommendations. We don't contradict official agency guidance, and we link to official resources throughout.
RetirementScamGuide.com is funded through affiliate commissions — when you click a link to an identity protection service, credit monitoring tool, or similar product and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no additional cost to you. We also earn revenue from display advertising.
These commercial arrangements are disclosed prominently throughout the site and in our full affiliate disclosure. They do not influence our editorial content — we recommend credit freezes (which are free) over paid credit locks, IdentityTheft.gov (which is free) over paid recovery services, and official government reporting portals (which are free) over any third-party services.
Our affiliate relationships are limited to products and services we consider genuinely useful: identity monitoring services, antivirus software, and similar protective tools. We do not have relationships with investment products, insurance products, or legal services beyond informational links to find licensed professionals.
RetirementScamGuide.com is a member of the Retirement Guide Network — a group of independent, editorially autonomous websites serving the over-50 community across fraud protection, travel, home independence, and lifestyle.
The network was founded on the belief that the over-50 demographic is underserved by mainstream media, which tends to treat retirement as an afterthought. Each site in the network operates independently with its own editorial focus, united by a shared commitment to honest, practical guidance — no advertising bias, no brand partnerships, no sponsored content masquerading as editorial.
Visit RetirementGuideNetwork.com →Questions about our content, corrections, or partnership inquiries: visit our contact page. We read every message, though response times vary.
If you've been scammed and need immediate help, please don't wait for us — call the AARP Fraud Watch Helpline at 877-908-3360 (free, Monday–Friday) or the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 833-FRAUD-11. These agencies can help you right now.