Senior Scam Prevention and Fraud Resources in Wyoming
Wyoming seniors reported $6 million in elder fraud losses to the FBI in 2025, with 397 victims aged 60 and older. This page provides Wyoming-specific scam prevention resources, official reporting contacts, and five years of FBI elder fraud data for the state.
Already been scammed? Read our First 24 Hours Emergency Guide for critical steps to take immediately.
I. Overview: Wyoming’s Senior Population and Key Cities
As of 2024, Wyoming has a population of approximately 580,000, with around 106,000 residents aged 65 and older, making up 18.3% of the state’s total population. Wyoming’s wide rural landscape, low population density, and high rate of seniors living alone or in remote areas can make older adults particularly vulnerable to scams , especially those using phone, mail, and internet deception.
Wyoming presents a mixed picture in 2025: total losses were $5.9 million (#51 nationally), yet the state has the #15 highest per-capita victim rate. Two major categories decreased: investment scams fell 55% and romance scams dropped 53%. Meanwhile, lottery/sweepstakes surged 647% and government impersonation rose 212%. Rural isolation can delay detection, making awareness crucial.
The largest cities where senior scams are most frequently reported include:
- Cheyenne (approx. 65,000 people)
- Casper (approx. 58,000 people)
- Laramie (approx. 32,000 people)
II. 2025 Victim Report: How Scammers Targeted Wyoming’s Seniors
In 2025, Wyoming had 397 victims aged 60+ who reported losses totaling $5,923,260 — up 49% in victims but down 32% in losses compared to 2024 (267 victims / $8.6M).
Loss by Crime Type
| Crime Type | 2025 Loss | 2024 Loss | Change |
| Investment | $2,072,493 | $4,609,991 | -55% |
| Tech Support | $1,030,220 | $799,175 | +29% |
| Romance | $334,294 | $708,915 | -53% |
| Lottery/Sweepstakes | $664,010 | $88,900 | +647% |
| Extortion | $15,461 | $31,459 | -51% |
| Government Impersonation | $122,400 | $39,270 | +212% |
Elder Fraud Loss Trajectory — Wyoming
5-Year Elder Fraud Trend — Wyoming (2021—2025)
| Year | Victims (60+) | Total Loss | YoY Change | Nat’l Rank |
| 2021 | 181 | $4,498,432 | — | #40 |
| 2022 | 209 | $5,265,283 | +17% | #48 |
| 2023 | 190 | $5,689,358 | +8% | #48 |
| 2024 | 267 | $8,648,675 | +52% | #47 |
| 2025 | 397 | $5,923,260 | -32% | #51 |
| 5-Year Total | 1,244 | $30,025,008 | +32% (2021—2025) | — |
Source: FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) Annual Reports, 2021—2025. Covers victims aged 60 and older. National rank is by total dollar loss among 52 states/territories. National totals: $1.7B (2021), $3.1B (2022), $3.4B (2023), $4.9B (2024), $7.7B (2025) — $20.8 billion stolen from American seniors over five years.
Top Crime Types Targeting Wyoming Seniors (2025 vs. 5-Year)
| Crime Type | 2025 Victims | 2025 Loss | 5-Year Total | Growth (2021—25) |
| Investment | 22 | $2,072,493 | $12,539,312 | +43% |
| Tech Support | 54 | $1,030,220 | $4,326,155 | +697% |
| Lottery/Sweepstakes | 11 | $664,010 | $1,728,087 | +2,732% |
| Personal Data Breach | 31 | $593,812 | $697,033 | +4,433% |
| Romance | 26 | $334,294 | $2,958,728 | -78% |
| BEC | 10 | $294,011 | $2,443,141 | -72% |
Top 6 crime types by 2025 losses. Growth calculated from 2021 to 2025. For national crime type trends, see our Crime Type Migration Analysis.
What the data reveals: Wyoming’s elder fraud losses totaled $5.9 million in 2025, with 397 victims — up 49% in victim count but down 32% in losses from 2024. Two major categories decreased: investment scams fell 55% (from $4.6 million to $2.1 million) and romance scams dropped 53%. Lottery/sweepstakes surged 647% from $88.9K to $664K, and government impersonation rose 212%. Statewide, that comes to roughly one senior victim for every 1,480 Wyoming residents.
National context: Wyoming ranks #51 in total losses — second to last — but #15 in per-capita victim rate (67.56 per 100,000). This is one of the starkest contrasts between total and per-capita rankings of any state: Wyoming’s small population means that even modest victim counts translate to a high per-person rate. The fact that losses actually decreased 32% while victims increased 49% suggests scammers are extracting less money per incident, possibly because awareness campaigns are helping victims recognize fraud sooner.
For the full national picture, including how Wyoming compares to every other state, visit our national hub page with interactive data and rankings.
III. Emergency and Official Contacts
Local Police Departments – Elder Fraud and Financial Crimes
1. Cheyenne Police Department – Investigations Division
- Phone: (307) 637-6525 (non-emergency)
- Website: cheyennepd.org
- Handles elder fraud, identity theft, and scam complaints.
2. Casper Police Department – Fraud Reporting
- Phone: (307) 235-8278 (non-emergency)
- Website: casperwy.gov
- Responds to local reports of scams and financial exploitation.
3. Laramie Police Department – General Inquiries
- Phone: (307) 721-2526
- Website: cityoflaramie.org
- Contact to report suspicious financial activity and elder abuse.
FBI and Federal Scam Reporting
FBI Denver Field Office (covers Wyoming)
- Phone: (303) 629-7171
- Website: fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/denver
Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)
- Website: www.ic3.gov
- Use for reporting phishing, tech scams, financial fraud, and online threats.
Wyoming Attorney General – Consumer Protection
Consumer Protection Unit – Wyoming Attorney General’s Office
- Consumer Hotline: (307) 777-6397
- Website: ag.wyo.gov/law-office-division/consumer-protection-and-antitrust-unit
- Provides investigation and support for senior fraud, deceptive business practices, and scam recovery.
Statewide Elder Services and Medicare Fraud Support
Wyoming Adult Protective Services (APS)
- Report Abuse: (800) 457-3659
- Website: health.wyo.gov
- Investigates elder abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation statewide.
Wyoming Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP)
- Phone: (800) 856-4398
- Website: wysmp.org
- Assists with Medicare billing scams, fraud alerts, and education.
Wyoming Department of Health – Aging Division
- General Info: (800) 442-2766
- Website: dfs.wyo.gov/services/elderly-and-disabled/adult-protection-servicesaging
- Offers elder rights advocacy, caregiver resources, legal support, and fraud prevention.
Know the Signs. Take Action. Help Others.
- Wyoming seniors lose millions annually to fraud schemes, many of which start with a simple phone call or email.
- Always verify requests for money, personal data, or urgent payments , and talk to someone you trust before acting.
- Visit our Education Center for scam alerts, step-by-step response guides, and printable resources.
- Trust your instincts. If something feels wrong, report it right away. You’re not alone.
Recent Wyoming scam news
Recent news coverage of scams affecting Wyoming seniors, updated from our alerts desk. Each item links to the original outlet; victims and defendants are kept anonymous.
Email scam hits Johnson County organizations
A Wyoming senior center and other local groups were hit by a fake proposal email that spread to their contacts.
Read at Buffalo Bulletin →$43 million lost to scammers in Wyoming in 2024
New figures show Wyoming residents lost about $43 million to scams in 2024, with older adults among the hardest hit.
Read at Buffalo Bulletin →The 'phantom hacker' scam: how a months-long con convinces victims to hand cash or gold to a courier
Federal prosecutors describe a growing 'phantom hacker' scheme in which a caller falsely claims a victim's bank or investment account has been compromised, then, days or weeks later, someone posing as a government official tells the victim their money needs to be moved to a 'safe' government account to protect it. After building trust over an extended period, the scammers convince victims to withdraw cash or buy gold and hand it to someone who arrives in person posing as a government agent, sometimes claiming to be a U.S. Attorney or other official. In one related Arizona case, a victim transferred more than $400,000 in assets before realizing it was a scam. No real government agency or bank will ever ask you to withdraw money, buy gold, or hand valuables to a courier to 'protect' them, so if you get a call like this, slow down, hang up, and verify by contacting the agency or bank directly using a number you look up yourself.
Read at U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Arizona →House committee report calls for an 'all-of-ecosystem' approach to fighting scams, including elder fraud
A U.S. House Financial Services Committee report is calling for a coordinated national strategy against fraud and scams, arguing that stopping them requires cooperation across banks, technology platforms, telecommunications carriers, and law enforcement, not just the moment a payment happens. The report cites FTC data showing more than 3 million fraud reports and $15.9 billion in reported losses in 2025, and specifically flags elder exploitation among the scam types it wants better addressed alongside impostor schemes, phishing, and crypto fraud. It recommends stronger consumer education, deliberate friction to slow suspicious transactions, more cross-industry data sharing, and wider use of AI-powered fraud-detection tools, and it launched a new public resource site explaining common scam red flags in plain language. The American Bankers Association welcomed the report's call for a coordinated approach that brings platforms, carriers, and financial institutions into the effort together.
Read at JD Supra →Senate Aging Committee presses nine major AI companies for safeguards protecting older users
The Senate Special Committee on Aging sent letters to nine major AI companies asking what safeguards their AI chatbot 'companion' products have for older adults, people with disabilities, and people in crisis, including how the products are tested, how harms are tracked, and whether independent researchers can access data to study the effects on older users. Companies have until August 31, 2026 to respond. The letters follow a bipartisan committee hearing, held by the committee's Republican chairman together with its Democratic ranking member and another Democratic senator, examining how AI has been used in scams against seniors; at that hearing the committee released a new report citing the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center for almost $21 billion in cybercrime losses in 2025, with $893 million tied to AI-enabled scams. The report's recommendations include a centralized federal scam-reporting portal that would automatically route complaints to the right agency, expanded law enforcement training and cryptocurrency-tracing tools, and new protections against unauthorized AI-generated voice and image replicas. The committee framed it directly: protecting older Americans from AI-enabled fraud and expanding their access to helpful AI tools 'are not competing priorities; they are two sides of the same obligation.'
Read at McKnight's Senior Living →Expert: AI voice cloning is making grandparent and impersonation scams more convincing
At a fraud-prevention session, a consumer-protection expert explained how AI is raising the stakes on scams that already target seniors: fraudsters can pull audio from social media to clone a family member's voice for a fake emergency call, and use AI to alter faces and voices on video calls to look and sound legitimate. He said government agencies never initiate contact by phone, so any call claiming to be the IRS, Social Security, or the FBI is a scam, and that any request to pay through a cryptocurrency ATM is always a scammer. Other advice: legitimate tech companies do not send pop-up warnings with a phone number to call, so restart your computer instead of clicking a link or handing over remote access; use unique passwords and multi-factor authentication; and place a security freeze on your credit report. According to FTC data cited at the session, Americans reported losing a record $15.9 billion to fraud and scams in 2025, an all-ages figure that is separate from the FBI's own reporting on losses to adults 60 and older.
Read at HousingWire →IV. Learn More: Wyoming Scam Prevention Guides
Explore Wyoming-specific guides on the most common scams targeting seniors in your state:
- Tech Support Scams in Wyoming — Learn to recognize fake pop-ups, phone calls, and remote access schemes.
- Investment Scams in Wyoming — Protect your retirement savings from fraudulent advisors and crypto scams.
- Romance Scams in Wyoming — Spot the warning signs of fake online relationships designed to steal money.
- Government Impersonation Scams in Wyoming — Know what real government agencies will never ask you to do.
- How to Report Scams in Wyoming — Step-by-step guide to reporting fraud and starting recovery.
For national-level data on each scam type, see our Investment, Tech Support, Romance, and Government Impersonation national guides.
See how Wyoming compares. Curious where Wyoming ranks in the national picture? Stolen Trust, our 2026 special study, ranks every state and territory using five years of FBI data and lays out one practical plan to fix elder fraud.