Millennials scammed more than boomers, silent generation in 2017

Millennials lost more money to financial scams than people that were older, a new government study shows.

Forty percent of Americans in their twenties reported fraud in 2017 compared with 18% of U.S. consumers 70 or older, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

However, the median loss for people aged 70 or older was much higher than the median losses of any other age group. People aged 20-29 lost an average of $400 as compared to $621 for those aged 70-79 and $1,029 for those 80 and older.

During 2017, 2.7 million complaints were reported to the Consumer Sentinel Network. Debt, identity theft and imposter scams accounted for the top three categories.

Overall, Americans lost $905 million to fraud in 2017, which represented an increase of $63 million compared to a year earlier. The median losses for all fraud reports in 2017 was $429.