Senior Scam Prevention and Fraud Resources in Delaware
Delaware seniors reported $16 million in elder fraud losses to the FBI in 2025, with 796 victims aged 60 and older. This page provides Delaware-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: Delaware’s Senior Population and Key Cities
As of 2024, Delaware has a population of approximately 1.02 million, with over 210,000 residents aged 65 and older , making up more than 20% of the total population. Delaware’s senior population is growing faster than the national average, with many retirees settling in coastal and suburban areas.
Older adults in Delaware face disproportionate risk — the state has the #5 highest per-capita victim rate in the nation. In 2025, losses reached $16 million. Investment scams led at $7.2 million (+86%), and government impersonation surged 471% to $1.1 million. Lottery/sweepstakes dropped 81%.
The three largest cities where elder scam reports are most common are:
- Wilmington (approx. 70,000 people)
- Dover (approx. 40,000 people)
- Newark (approx. 31,000 people)
II. 2025 Victim Report: How Scammers Targeted Delaware’s Seniors
In 2025, Delaware had 796 victims aged 60+ who reported losses totaling $16,189,240 — up 55% in victims and 32% in losses compared to 2024 (514 victims / $12M).
Loss by Crime Type
| Crime Type | 2025 Loss | 2024 Loss | Change |
| Investment | $7,174,698 | $3,852,275 | +86% |
| Tech Support | $2,924,979 | $2,540,564 | +15% |
| Romance | $1,686,893 | $967,449 | +74% |
| Lottery/Sweepstakes | $64,075 | $344,368 | -81% |
| Extortion | $3,628 | $63,440 | -94% |
| Government Impersonation | $1,070,568 | $187,370 | +471% |
Elder Fraud Loss Trajectory — Delaware
5-Year Elder Fraud Trend — Delaware (2021—2025)
| Year | Victims (60+) | Total Loss | YoY Change | Nat’l Rank |
| 2021 | 344 | $5,769,966 | — | #37 |
| 2022 | 305 | $14,023,134 | +143% | #38 |
| 2023 | 313 | $15,363,401 | +10% | #35 |
| 2024 | 514 | $12,293,619 | -20% | #44 |
| 2025 | 796 | $16,189,240 | +32% | #46 |
| 5-Year Total | 2,272 | $63,639,360 | +181% (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 Delaware Seniors (2025 vs. 5-Year)
| Crime Type | 2025 Victims | 2025 Loss | 5-Year Total | Growth (2021—25) |
| Investment | 36 | $7,174,698 | $15,252,934 | +820% |
| Tech Support | 114 | $2,924,979 | $10,572,603 | +715% |
| Romance | 41 | $1,686,893 | $7,228,581 | -7% |
| Gov. Impersonation | 34 | $1,070,568 | $9,028,671 | +3,865% |
| Personal Data Breach | 64 | $1,060,952 | $5,302,211 | +109% |
| BEC | 18 | $280,541 | $8,124,185 | -73% |
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: Delaware’s elder fraud losses reached $16 million in 2025, with 796 seniors victimized. Investment scams grew 86% to $7.2 million. Government impersonation surged 471% from $187K to $1.1 million — one of the steepest increases in this category nationally. Romance scams rose 74% and tech support 15%. Lottery/sweepstakes dropped 81%. Statewide, that comes to roughly one senior victim for every 1,322 Delaware residents.
National context: Delaware ranks #5 in per-capita victim rate (75.67 per 100,000), despite ranking only #46 in total losses. This means an individual Delaware senior is more likely to be targeted than those in California, Texas, Florida, or New York. Delaware’s small geography and concentrated senior population may make it easier for scammers to target multiple victims through the same channels.
For the full national picture, including how Delaware 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. Wilmington Police Department – Investigative Services Division
- Phone: (302) 654-5151 (non-emergency)
- Website: wilmingtonde.gov
- Handles financial crimes and elder fraud complaints.
2. Dover Police Department – Criminal Investigations
- Phone: (302) 736-7111 (non-emergency)
- Website: doverpolice.org
- Contact for scam reports, identity theft, and abuse of older adults.
3. Newark Police Department – General Inquiries
- Phone: (302) 366-7111 (non-emergency)
- Website: newarkde.gov
- Responds to consumer fraud, tech scams, and elder exploitation reports.
FBI and Federal Scam Reporting
FBI Baltimore Field Office (covers Delaware)
- Phone: (410) 265-8080
- Website: www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/baltimore
Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)
- Website: www.ic3.gov
- Use to report online scams, phishing, tech support hoaxes, and financial fraud.
Delaware Attorney General – Elder Fraud and Consumer Protection
Delaware Department of Justice – Senior Protection Initiative
- Consumer Protection Hotline: (800) 220-5424
- Website: attorneygeneral.delaware.gov
- Investigates scams, abuse, and financial exploitation targeting seniors. Offers complaint forms and guidance.
Statewide Elder Services and Medicare Fraud Support
Delaware Adult Protective Services (APS)
- APS Reporting Line: (800) 223-9074
- Website: dhss.delaware.gov
- Investigates elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation, including financial fraud.
Delaware Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP)
- Phone: (800) 223-9074
- Website: smpresource.org (search “Delaware SMP”)
- Helps seniors identify and report Medicare fraud, billing errors, and identity misuse.
Delaware Division of Services for Aging and Adults with Physical Disabilities (DSAAPD)
- Main Line: (800) 223-9074
- Website: dhss.delaware.gov
- Provides elder rights advocacy, fraud prevention education, caregiver support, and legal aid.
Protect Yourself and Loved Ones
- Delaware seniors lose millions of dollars each year to preventable scams.
- Reporting early helps protect not just yourself, but your entire community.
- Visit our Education Center to explore common fraud types, learn how to respond, and report scams safely.
- If something seems suspicious, don’t engage. Stop. Ask. Report.
Recent Delaware scam news
Recent news coverage of scams affecting Delaware seniors, updated from our alerts desk. Each item links to the original outlet; victims and defendants are kept anonymous.
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 →Senate Aging Committee hears bankers' testimony on AI-enabled fraud targeting seniors
The U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging held a hearing on July 29, 2026 on AI-generated fraud targeting older Americans. A witness from the American Bankers Association testified that artificial intelligence is amplifying fraud schemes rather than creating new ones, saying a criminal can now create a convincing fake voice, video, photo, text message, ad, or online persona with little skill or cost. He recommended that Congress create a National Office for Scam and Fraud Prevention to provide accountable national leadership, along with strengthening telecommunications safeguards, improving how fraud information is shared to help recover stolen funds, and modernizing identity and authentication systems. He also noted that banks already use AI, advanced analytics, employee training, and consumer education to help spot suspicious activity. The hearing is a reminder that as scams become more convincing, the same basic defense still works: slow down and verify independently before sending money.
Read at ABA Banking Journal →FBI: older Americans lost nearly $8 billion to scams last year; here's how to protect yourself
The FBI says Americans 60 and older lost nearly $8 billion to scams last year, and ABC11 lays out practical ways to protect yourself: verify any unsolicited call, text, or email independently by going directly to the institution's real website rather than clicking a link or calling a number it provides, and treat any unexpected contact with skepticism even if it looks legitimate. Scammers often use personal details found on social media to sound credible, then work to build trust before asking for money, and increasingly target investment accounts and home equity, not just checking accounts. The core habit that protects you: slow down, verify through a source you look up yourself, and never let anyone rush you into moving money.
Read at ABC11 →IV. Learn More: Delaware Scam Prevention Guides
Explore Delaware-specific guides on the most common scams targeting seniors in your state:
- Tech Support Scams in Delaware — Learn to recognize fake pop-ups, phone calls, and remote access schemes.
- Investment Scams in Delaware — Protect your retirement savings from fraudulent advisors and crypto scams.
- Romance Scams in Delaware — Spot the warning signs of fake online relationships designed to steal money.
- Government Impersonation Scams in Delaware — Know what real government agencies will never ask you to do.
- How to Report Scams in Delaware — 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 Delaware compares. Curious where Delaware 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.