Robocall Madness FNL

Annoying Robocalls Hit Record Numbers Last Month

Robocall Madness FNL

The number of annoying robocalls Americans endured rose by 15.9% last month versus the previous month, according to the YouMail Robocall Index.

In fact, there was a new monthly record of 5.1 billion robocalls received nationwide in October, which marks the first time the monthly total has topped 5 billion robocalls since the YouMail Robocall Index launched in 2015.

The number of calls in October more than doubled those made in January. This volume equaled some 170 million calls placed every day during October, or 1,973 robocalls for every second of the month, both new records.

"Every time we think the robocall epidemic has peaked, it turns out it hasn't," said YouMail CEO Alex Quilici. "Carriers, call-blocking apps like YouMail, and consumers all have critical roles to play in finally making inroads to stopping this troubling problem."

Robocalls Continue to Be Driven by Scams

Combined scam and telemarketing calls continued to account for roughly 60% of all robocalls, with over 2.1 billion scam calls, and well over 3 billion combined calls made in October.

That is an enormous number of calls which the majority of consumers just do not want to receive.

The top five scam types remained identical between September and October. The main change involved Health Insurance Scams that continued to increase in volume, with an estimated 500 million such calls made in October.

In perhaps some good news, Easy Money Scams, Interest Rate Scams and Search Listing Scams all declined in volume.

Consumers have seen an increase in robocalls this past year, and the problem continues to persist despite efforts by regulatory bodies like the FCC to limit the issue.

These latest monthly figures come from YouMail, a free robocall blocking solution for mobile phones. YouMail blocks unwanted robocallers by making sure the user's phone doesn't ring, and then plays an out-of-service message that leads them to think they dialed an invalid number.

Find out more at YouMail.com.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email