Utah is finding itself in an unwelcome spotlight after a new analysis put the state near the top of the list for senior-targeted cybercrime, a ranking that advocates say should be a wake-up call for families. The Protect My Data study, released May 15 to coincide with National Senior Fraud Awareness Day, shows sharp jumps in both the number of older victims and the money lost to scammers in 2025. Researchers and local commentators say scams are getting more polished, more personal and far more expensive, and they are urging families and caregivers to treat fraud prevention as a basic part of household safety.
According to Parade, Protect My Data used FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) records to rank states and found Arizona in the top spot while Utah came in second. Peter Nguyen, a privacy expert with Protect My Data, told Parade that cybercriminals are increasingly targeting seniors because they often rely on trust, urgency-based communication and digital tools that can feel unfamiliar or overwhelming. The firm said it calculated both victims and financial losses per 100,000 residents and per 100,000 seniors in order to spotlight relative exposure across states, and Parade published a state-by-state breakdown using the researchers’ dataset.
For Utah, the analysis recorded about 398.12 senior cybercrime victims per 100,000 residents in 2025 and estimated financial losses of roughly $17.53 million per 100,000 seniors, as reported by KVNU. That represented a 32.79 percent increase in victims compared with 2024, the researchers said. The per-capita framing is meant to show where older adults face disproportionate risk rather than just tallying raw totals.
A Bigger National Picture
The FBI’s IC3 data show a nationwide surge in both losses and complaints among older adults, and federal officials have been underscoring the problem in the run-up to the May 15 observance. The FBI has noted that adults 60 and older reported losses in the billions in 2025 and has urged families to report scams as quickly as possible. Analysts say the rise of AI-driven voice and text forgeries, along with slicker phishing attacks, has made even tech-comfortable seniors more vulnerable.
Why Utah Ranks So High
Local commentators argue that Utah’s emerging label as a fraud hot spot has less to do with an unusual number of criminals and more to do with a higher share of successful scams. Cache Valley host Jason Williams captured that view when KVNU quoted him calling Utah the “fraud capitol of the world, not because we have more people committing fraud, but because we have so many people falling for them.” Experts say regional retirement patterns, local banking habits and the popularity of certain investment and tech-support schemes likely feed into the state’s high per-capita exposure.
How Families Can Protect Older Relatives
Fraud prevention starts with awareness and a few basic habits. Experts recommend double-checking unexpected calls, refusing urgent payment demands and turning on multi-factor authentication for financial and email accounts. Those are among the steps Protect My Data’s experts highlight, and they line up with long-standing guidance from the AARP Fraud Watch Network, which also offers local “Scam Jam” workshops and a helpline. Keeping everyday conversations open, and teaching seniors to pause before sending money or personal information, are some of the simplest tools families can use.
Reporting Matters
Because the Protect My Data ranking is based on IC3 complaints, it reflects only cases that have been reported and may understate the total damage. Law enforcement and advocates say that is exactly why victims and families need to speak up sooner rather than later. The FBI and state attorneys general encourage victims to file reports at IC3.gov and to contact banks immediately in order to improve the odds of recovering stolen funds. For families, the bottom line is blunt but useful: treat any surprise call or money request as a cue to stop, ask questions and get help before moving a single dollar.
