U.S. Barraged by 4.8 Billion Robocalls in August, According to YouMail Robocall Index
As Summer Ends, National Robocall Volumes Rise Again
IRVINE, Calif., Sep. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Americans received 4.8 billion robocalls in August, up 2.2% from July, though still down roughly 9.4% from the all-time high of 5.2 billion robocalls in March. The U.S. has received roughly 38.8 billion robocalls already this year.
The month of August averaged just under 155 million robocalls per day alone, or 1,784 robocalls per second. These latest monthly figures come from YouMail, a totally free robocall blocking app for mobile phones.
"August is now the second consecutive month with increasing robocall volumes, after our previous three-month decline," said YouMail CEO Alex Quilici. "It looks like we're once again getting very close to the 5 billion plus robocall per month mark, mimicking trends from earlier this year."
Scam and Telemarketing Calls Increase in August
The increase in robocalls for the month was entirely based on a roughly 54% increase in scam and telemarketing robocalls, with over 2.1 billion scam calls for the month.
Type of Robocall | Estimated August Robocalls | Percentage of August Robocalls |
Alerts and Reminders | 1.11 billion (+3 million) | 23% |
Payment Reminders | 979 million (+86 million) | 21% |
Telemarketing | 574 million (-47 million) | 12% (-1%) |
Scams | 2.11 billion (+1200 million) | 44% (+1%) |
In August, six types of scams exceeded more than 100 million calls each, with 10% or larger increases. These scams include Health-Related Scams, Student Loan Scams, Interest Rate Scams, Easy Money Scams, and Warranty scams.
Top Scam Robocalls in August 2019
Rank | Type of Scam | Estimated August Robocalls | Summary of Scam |
1 | Health-Related Scams | 288.0m (+14.9m) | Identity theft/scam payments/illegal |
2 (+1) | Student Loan Scams | 165.0m (+19.3m) | Identify theft/scam payments |
3 (-1) | Interest Rate Scams | 153.1m (+1.4m) | Identify theft/financial scams |
4 | Social Security Scams | 141.2m (+9.5m) | Identify theft/scam payments |
5 (+1) | Easy Money Scams | 123.0m (+28.7m) | Scam payments |
6 (-1) | Warranty Scams | 113.2m (+12.6m) | Scam payments/illegal solicitations |
The top 5 specific annoying telemarketing and/or scam calls that people received in the U.S. were the following:
1 | 89.3m (+27.2m) | |
2 | 46.4m (-4.8m) | |
3 | 40.6m (+2.3m) | |
4 | 38.2m (+1.2m) | |
5 | 32.9m (-11.4m) |
These scams are very similar to last month, with the top 5 campaigns adding up to roughly 250 million collective robocalls in August. Four of the top five problematic campaigns continue to use caller ID spoofing in all of their calls – with some effectively creating a new number for each call they make to unsuspecting consumers.
"Winners" in August 2019
The cities, area codes and states with the highest volumes of robocalls in August were similar to the volumes from July, though all the leaders experienced decreased volumes.
City with the Most Robocalls: | Atlanta, GA (184.4 million, down 3.0 million) |
City with the Most Robocalls/Person: | Washington, DC (48.9/person, down -0.7/person) |
Area Code with the Most Robocalls: | 404 in Atlanta, GA (76.4 million, 1.7 million) |
Area Code with the Most Robocalls/Person: | 404 in Atlanta, GA (62.5person, down 1.4/person) |
State with the Most Robocalls: | Texas (555.3 million, up 14.1 million) |
State with the Most Robocalls/Person: | Louisiana (29.3/person, up 1.7/person) |
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 [email protected].
About YouMail, Inc.
YouMail, Inc. provides imaginative, intelligent, cloud-based telecommunication services. These include its app-based free 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™, 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.
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