Robocalls Spike 41% in First Seven Months of 2018 Over Same Period Last Year

IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Americans were overwhelmed by an estimated 24.3 billion robocalls in the first seven months of this year, compared to an estimated 17.2 billion robocalls received in the first seven months of 2017, marking a 41.3% year-on-year increase for this ongoing national problem.

The 3.99 billion robocalls received nationwide in July represented a 3% month-on-month decline from the total calls received in June, but still a 53.9% increase over July of last year. National robocalling volumes for July equaled 129 million calls per day, or 1,493 robocalls placed every second of the month. The robocall total for July marked the first time that the nation's monthly calling volume has declined, even slightly, since February.

These latest monthly figures come from YouMail, a free robocall blocking solution for mobile phones that helps consumers stop robocalls from ever reaching their 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 that the number they dialed is invalid.

The YouMail Robocall Index is a compilation of the scope and location of the worst robocalling hotspots across the country by area code, and these statistics are regularly cited by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as a definitive source for national data trends.

"Robocall volumes go up and down, but the new baseline seems to be roughly 4 billion calls nationwide each month, or nearly 1,500 robocalls received every second in America, which is astonishing," said Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail. "Consumers are rightfully fed up and they're looking for stronger protections from their representatives, phone service provider, app developers, and device makers."

How Robocalls Break Down

In July, scams accounted for an estimated 1.4 billion robocalls, or nearly 36% of all robocalls made in that month.

This increase in scam calls has several factors, including an increase in scammers making multiple calls to individuals from different numbers to try to get through, and in recognizing that telemarketing calls are actually more appropriately recognized as scams.

How Major Wireless Carriers Compare

YouMail has been tracking the number of robocalls made to users on four major carriers: AT&T Wireless, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint. This analysis also includes Blue Wireless, a smaller, regional carrier where every user has YouMail's effective robocall blocking solution enabled by default.  All major carriers are seeing the number of robocalls per subscriber go up. 

Who Gets The Most Robocalls

Atlanta topped the YouMail 50 Most Robocalled Cities in America list for the 32^nd month in a row, as area residents are estimated to have received more than 179 million robocalls in July. Atlanta's 404 area code received the most robocalls of any area in July, with 78.3 million.

Four Georgia area codes (404, 678,770 and 706), four Texas area codes (832, 214, 817 and 210), and three Florida area codes (954, 305 and 407) made the list of the 20 Most Robocalled Area Codes for the month of July.

Meanwhile, California retained its perch as the most robocalled state in the nation, with 447.3 million robocalls statewide, followed closely by Texas with 445.1 million calls received. South Dakota notched the biggest statewide percentage increase for the second straight month, rising 15.3% in July over June. Other states posting large increases included New Hampshire (up 14.8%); Maine (up 6.7%); Vermont (up 6.6%); and Montana (up 5.2%).

Who Makes The Most Robocalls

One national credit card company has retained the most active robocalling phone number with 40.8 million calls placed in the month of July alone. Since the YouMail Robocall Index was launched 34 months ago, this single lender's number has placed 1.02 billion calls nationally.

An 80% majority of the country's 20 top robocalling phone numbers, or 16 of the top 20, were made by debt collectors including banks, cable companies and retailers. Other calls originated from phone lines for a health insurance scam, a bank card scam, and a business loan scam.

Los Angeles overtook New York as the #1 robocalling city in July, with 118.8 million robocalls placed. Dallas, Atlanta and Chicago rounded out the top-five most prolific robocalling cities for the month.

For the first time in the history of the Robocall Index, 14 cities each placed more than 50 million robocalls in a single month. They were the top-five followed by Phoenix, Houston, Seattle, Columbus, Baltimore, San Francisco Bay Area, Newark, Orlando and Philadelphia.

California held its spot as the most prolific robocalling state, rising 4.2% in July to 343.1 robocalls made. Colorado saw the biggest percentage increase in outbound robocalls, gaining 22.8% in July, followed by Mississippi (up 22.3%); Nevada (up 21.0%); and Minnesota (up 20.3%).

The 614 area code in Columbus, OH, produced the most robocalls in July with 55.8 million calls placed, followed by the 202 area code in Washington, D.C., with 46.2 million calls placed.

For more information about the YouMail Robocall Index or to view the latest report, please visit http://robocallindex.com. To join the YouMail Robocall Index mailing list, please write to [email protected].

About YouMail, Inc.
YouMail, Inc. is the leading provider of intelligent, cloud-based telecommunication services. The company's flagship service provides an automated virtual receptionist that replaces the subscriber's voicemail on iPhone, Android, and Windows phones. This service stops robocalls, and delights other callers by instantly greeting, routing, and responding to them, personally and memorably, and even provides free conference calls YouMail also provides data on problematic phone number behavior, through a reverse phone lookup service that allows anyone to identify and comment on suspicious numbers, an application program interface (API) that any telecom service provider or third-party developer can use to determine whether a number is problematic, and the  YouMail Robocall Index™, which since its launch in in September 2015 has emerged as the nation's definitive source on robocalling data for telecom carriers, smartphone and app companies, and public policymakers. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., YouMail, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is privately funded.

Contact:
Keya Balar for YouMail
Lumina Communications
[email protected] 
646-791-9600

SOURCE YouMail, Inc.