The Justice Department's Civil Division sent Congress its eighth annual Elder Justice Report on Wednesday, covering July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026. DOJ says it pursued nearly 350 criminal and civil enforcement actions involving fraud or abuse that targeted or disproportionately affected older adults. Approximately 96% of the cases were criminal and 45% involved international schemes.

Those cases named 712 defendants charged with stealing, or alleged to have stolen, $4,841,305,931 from 711,353 victims, according to the department. DOJ says it also returned millions of dollars to older victims, or froze millions, through a variety of programs.

The department says it ran nearly 1200 public awareness and training events during the year, reaching over 62 million Americans. It also helped organize the Never Ever Campaign, a public-private effort to warn consumers about government and business imposter scams. DOJ says that campaign reached over 95 million people.

DOJ says it kept building training for state and local prosecutors, police, victim service providers and elder justice teams. One new online course, a toolkit for law enforcement and emergency medical crews called to a long-term care facility, drew over 700 professionals in its first month. Organizations funded under the Victims of Crime Act allocated $52 million to elder abuse victim services, the report says.

The department says it is committed to fighting elder abuse, neglect, financial exploitation and fraud. Anyone who has been a victim of elder fraud can call the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 833-FRAUD-11 or 833-372-8311, DOJ says.