Millennials are more prone to lose money in financial scams than their elders, according to newly released government data. The Federal Trade Commission reported last week in its annual data summary of consumer complaints that 40 percent of Americans in their 20s who reported fraud in 2017 also said they lost money. By contrast, only 18 percent of victims aged 70 or older reported losing money. The dollar value associated with the fraud complaints were much higher for those aged 70 and older, however. Those in their 20s reported a median loss of $400. That's compared to $621 for those in their 70s and $1,092 for those 80 and up.

In all, the data collected by the federal watchdog group includes 2.7 million complaints, down slightly from total complaints in 2016. Dollar losses reported from fraud, however, increased $63 million from last year to almost $905 million. "While we received fewer overall complaints in 2017, consumers reported losing more money to fraud than they did the year before," acting director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection Tom Pahl said in a statement published with the data. "This underscores the importance of the FTC's work in educating consumers and cracking down on the scammers who try to take their money."

Financial schemes and scams were most frequently reported to have stemmed from a phone call. sturti | Getty Images

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