U.S. Consumers Received Just Over 4.4 Billion Robocalls in April, According to YouMail Robocall Index

Monthly Volume Has Decreased 3% Year-Over-Year, As Robocalls Continue At a Stable, Lower Level in 2024

IRVINE, Calif., May 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. consumers received just over 4.4 billion robocalls in April, which represents a 3.4% increase over March but a 3.1% decrease over March 2023. Despite the increase, we are now in the fifth month in a row below 150 million calls/day, and the sixth month in a row with a year-over-year decline in robocalls.   

April averaged 146.9 million robocalls/day and 1,700 robocalls/second, up 6.8% from March's average of 137.6 million robocalls/day and 1,592 robocalls/second. While this is the first increase since January, it's relatively low and well within the normal month-to-month variation of the daily rate of robocalls.

"Robocall volume has been relatively steady now for almost six months, despite some month-to-month fluctuations," said YouMail CEO Alex Quilici. "This suggests that the efforts of regulators, and industry, are helping to bring calls down to a significantly lower level than they were even a year ago."

These latest figures are provided by YouMail, a totally free robocall blocking app and call protection service for mobile phones. The figures are determined by extrapolating from the robocall traffic attempting to get through to YouMail's millions of active users.

Scam Calls Had a Large Increase in April

There was a 73% increase in scam calls during the month, from 345 million in March to over 710 million in April.  

This was particularly noticeable because all other categories of calls were flat to down for the month. The increase in scam calls raised the number of likely unwanted calls to 2.25 billion for April, or over half of all robocalls in the month.

Still, even with that jump this month, scam calls are still lower than at any time in 2023.

April 2024's Most Dangerous Robocalling Campaigns

As might be expected, the most problematic robocalling campaigns in April are related to taxes. The first robocall campaign leaves a pre-recorded message that claims they can make your tax debts magically go away, like calls from this number:

Hey there, I guess I missed you. It's Angie over at US Tax Experts. So I tried you last week as well and this is a follow-up notification regarding the new zero tax program that's open for you. It looks like you possibly have some past money that's due, which we can squash with this new deal. So basically, it becomes non-collectible, but you must select to enroll this month. So give me a shout back at 888-885-0892. Again, my number is 888-885-0892. Thank you and I'll talk to you later today.

The overall volume for this call is large, in the tens of millions of calls each month from tens of thousands of different numbers. These calls are violating telemarketing sales rules, and further, based on numerous spam reports from consumers, they appear to be calling people who never contacted the company or asked to be called. Further, the voice is made to sound like it's not a pre-recorded call but leaving a personal voicemail. Aside from that, there are reports that they require significant upfront fees and personal information and then provide no services. These calls appear to prey on people with tax debts who will hope that there is a simple solution to make those debts go away.

This second robocall campaign claims that all of your past due tax debt has been placed in a non-collectible status as part of an economic recovery program, meaning you will not have to pay back your past due taxes. A typical example comes in calls from this number:

This call was to let you know that all past due tax debt has been placed in a non-collectible status, meaning you will not have to pay back your past due taxes. This is part of that new economic recovery program you've probably heard about on the news. So before you file or start making arrangements to pay your tax debt, give us a call again. My number is 1-800-508-1077. Take your time and talk to you soon.

The overall volume for this tax debt-related call is also in the tens of millions of calls per month, calling from tens of thousands of different numbers. This is violating the telemarketing sales rules by not clearly identifying who the caller is, nor does it support a mechanism for opting out. Finally, they are calling people who claim they never consented to these calls. Like the other robocall campaign of interest this month, it preys on people who likely owe tax debt and are looking for any sort of solution to their problem.

The Source of This Data

These data points are provided by YouMail, a free call protection app for mobile phones. YouMail 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 protects consumers, enterprises, and carriers from harmful phone calls. YouMail provides US and UK consumers app-based call protection services through the YouMail, Another Number, and HulloMail apps. These solutions answer over a billion live calls per year across well over 10 million registered users, powering America's most robust telephone sensor network in identifying and providing zero-hour protection against illegal calling campaigns and cyberattacks. YouMail Protective Services leverages this sensor network to protect consumer-facing enterprises by detecting and helping shut down imposter traffic that can lead to financial or brand damage, as well as to protect carriers with robocall mitigation services that detect and help stop bad traffic originating, traversing, or terminating on their networks. This sensor network is also used to provide the  YouMail Robocall Index™ is the nation's definitive source on telephone network activity and attacks. YouMail, Inc. is privately funded and based in Irvine, California. 

Contact:
Gabriella Troiani for YouMail
Lumina Communications
[email protected]

SOURCE YouMail Inc.