HARRISBURG — Attorney General Dave Sunday — during Identity Theft Awareness Week — met with older Pennsylvanians in Dauphin and Luzerne counties to discuss trending scams, how scammers were successful in 2025, and how targets can protect themselves.
The advancement of technology, including artificial intelligence, has resulted in more sophisticated scams — and bigger payouts for criminals. Last year, the Office of Attorney General’s Bureau Consumer Protection’s Scam Team received more than 4,000 scam-related complaints.
Pennsylvanians lost more than $76 million in 2025 to scammers.
Attorney General Sunday discusses efforts to stop scammers in a year-in-review video HERE.
Downloadable version HERE.
This week, Attorney General Sunday provided warnings, tips, and other information to senior audiences at the Homeland Center in Harrisburg and Friedman Jewish Community Center in Kingston.
”Scammers armed with cutting-edge technology had a big year in 2025, stealing money from Pennsylvanians — including many older residents who lost their hard-earned savings,” Attorney General Sunday said. “Artificial intelligence has really changed the game and made scams more difficult to detect, so National Identity Theft Awareness Week is the perfect timing to spread the word that education and awareness are power.”
The top scam types were phishing scams and government imposter scams. The most common methods of losses by victims were wire transfers and bitcoin or crypto payments.
In some circumstances, the Bureau of Consumer Protection was able to recover funds for reported fraud, and immediate reporting of a scam increases the chances for recovery.
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