U.S. Annoyed by 4.5 Billion Robocalls in September, According to YouMail Robocall Index
National Robocall Volumes Now 13.5% Below Their All-Time Monthly High
Oct 03, 2019, 09:00 ET
IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Americans received 4.5 billion robocalls in September, down 5.2% from August, and down 13.5% from the all-time high in March of 5.2 billion robocalls. Despite that decline, the U.S. has received roughly 43.3 billion robocalls already this year.
The month of September averaged just over 150 million robocalls per day alone, or 1,754 robocalls per second. However, this was an average of roughly 8 million fewer robocalls per day hitting U.S. consumers versus August. These latest monthly figures come from YouMail, a totally free robocall blocking app for mobile phones.
"Happily, September had a meaningful but unsurprising decline in robocall volume, as it was a shorter month than August and included the Labor Day holiday weekend," said YouMail CEO Alex Quilici. "While that's still good news, the tougher news is that we received over 43.3 billion calls in the first 9 months of the year, and we are still on pace to wind up with nearly 60 billion calls to U.S. consumers this year."
Scam and Telemarketing Calls Increase in September
The decrease in robocalls for the month was largely based on a reduction in "legal" reminder robocalls, while scam calls stayed flat on a daily basis.
Type of Robocall |
Estimated September Robocalls |
Percentage of September |
Alerts and Reminders |
1.046 billion (-6%) |
23% |
Payment Reminders |
876 million (-10%) |
19% (-2%) |
Telemarketing |
541 million (-2%) |
12% |
Scams |
2.06 billion (-6%) |
46% (+2%) |
Top Scam Robocalls in September 2019
In September, five types of scams exceeded more than 100 million calls each, with Health-Related Scams up 29% and Interest Rate scams up 13% over August.
Rank |
Type of Scam |
Estimated September |
Summary of Scam |
1 |
Health-Related Scams |
373.9m (+29%) |
Identity theft/scam payments/illegal |
2(+1) |
Interest Rate Scams |
173.9m (+13%) |
Identify theft/financial scams |
3 (-1) |
Student Loan Scams |
165.0m (-7%) |
Identify theft/scam payments |
4 |
Social Security Scams |
142.6 (+1%) |
Identify theft/scam payments |
5 (+1) |
Warranty Scams |
123.0m (-19% |
Scam payments/illegal solicitations |
Here are the top 5 specific annoying telemarketing and/or scam calls that people received in the U.S. during September:
The top 5 campaigns added up to over 320 million collective robocalls in September, marking a big increase from the 250 million seen in August.
"Winners" in September 2019
The cities, area codes and states with the highest volumes of robocalls in September were similar to the volumes from August, though all the leaders experienced decreased volumes.
City with the Most Robocalls: |
Atlanta, GA (174.8 million, -5%) |
City with the Most Robocalls/Person: |
Washington, DC (48.9/person, -3%) |
Area Code with the Most Robocalls: |
404 in Atlanta, GA (73.6 million, -4%) |
Area Code with the Most Robocalls/Person: |
404 in Atlanta, GA (62.5person, -4%) |
State with the Most Robocalls: |
Texas (510 million, -8%) |
State with the Most Robocalls/Person: |
Louisiana (28.9/person, -1%) |
This data is provided by YouMail, a free robocall blocking app for mobile phones. YouMail recently won the American Business Awards' Gold Stevie Award for Technical Innovation of the Year, and the YouMail app was named the nation's best robocall-blocking solution in a competition organized by Geoffrey Fowler of the Washington Post.
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. YouMail identifies problematic numbers and robocalls using a combination of its recently patented audio fingerprinting technology, call patterns, and consumer feedback.
YouMail provides the YouMail Robocall Index to estimate robocall volume across the country and for specific area codes every month. This estimate is formed by extrapolating from the behavior of the billions of calls YouMail has handled for its users, and these statistics are regularly cited by the FCC as a definitive source for national data trends.
For a full ranking of cities, states and area codes, as well as details on the behavior of robocallers in each area code, please see http://robocallindex.com. To listen to actual voice messages left by robocallers, please visit the YouMail Directory. To join the YouMail Robocall Index mailing list, please write to RobocallIndex@YouMail.com.
About YouMail, Inc.
YouMail, Inc. provides imaginative, intelligent, cloud-based telecommunication services. These include its free app-based service to block robocalls, and its premium call management services for people who use their mobile phone for business. YouMail's services free users from limitations of their mobile phone or carrier – protecting against unwanted calls, helping them handle high volumes of mobile calls, unifying virtual numbers with their cell number, and providing personalized answering experiences for their callers. YouMail has stopped over a billion robocalls, has given hundreds of millions of callers the experience they deserve, and has delighted millions of users. The YouMail Robocall Index™, 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:
Rohan Notaney for YouMail
Lumina Communications
YouMailPR@luminapr.com
650-814-9651
SOURCE YouMail, Inc.
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