 TITLE: Identity Theft Statistics CONTENT: At-Risk Age Groups\n------------------\nWhen it comes to scams, children and seniors are at the biggest risk.\n### Child Identity Theft\nThere were 13,852 identity theft complaints to the Federal Trade Commission in 2017 affecting children and teens (age 19 and under), which represents 3.89% of all identity theft complaints for the year. This is a slight decrease since 2016, but it's still a huge issue as many times this can go unnoticed since children or their parents aren't often checking a child's credit.\n> In 2017, there were 13,852 complaints of child and teen identity theft.\nExperian is alerted to 25,000-30,000 fraud cases reported each year and approximately 17% were targeted at children. Child identity fraud or theft will affect 25% of kids before turning 18.\n### Senior Identity Theft\/Senior Scams\nThe FTC also reported that 35% of fraud complaints and 18.9% of ID theft complaints impacted seniors (Americans who are 60 years or older) in 2017. Seniors can fall victim to scammers if they trust the wrong person, who may develop a relationship over time by preying on them over the phone or via email. END