U.S. Consumers Received Just Over 4.7 Billion Robocalls in November, According to YouMail Robocall Index

The Total Represents a roughly 4% Month/Month Decline

IRVINE, Calif., Dec. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. consumers received just over 4.7 billion robocalls in November, marking a 3.7% decrease from October. However, this was also a 5% increase from November 2023. Like October, November's total was likely influenced by election-related robocalling. So far this year, the news continues to be positive, as there have been 48.4 billion robocalls, down 5.6% from the same time period in 2023.   

November averaged 157.6 million robocalls/day and 1,824 robocalls/second, down 3.9% from October's 158.4 million robocalls/day and 1,833 robocalls/second.

"Robocall volume in 2024 is roughly 5.6% lower than 2023," said YouMail CEO Alex Quilici. "As expected, much of the recent increase is election driven, and with the election in the rearview mirror, we expect December to show a meaningful decline."

These latest figures are provided by YouMail, a totally free app to protect consumers from unwanted or dangerous calls, texts, and voicemails. The figures are determined by extrapolating from the robocall traffic attempting to get through to YouMail's millions of active users.

Only Telemarketing Calls Increased in November

Telemarketing calls in November increased by 6% versus October compared to the 21% increase YouMail measured from September to October. In contrast, scam calls and non-payment notifications fell over 10% each, and payment notifications also fell 6%.    

Unfortunately, scam calls and telemarketing calls grew to over 2.4 billion robocalls for the month, and roughly 51% of all robocalls.

November 2024's Most Annoying Robocalling Campaign

The most problematic robocall campaign in November continues to be around personal loans, like calls from this number.

Hi, this is Olivia. I'm a senior loan processor with our approval department. According to our system, you may pre-qualify for a consolidation loan of up to $47,000. Payments for this loan start as low as $350 a month. This can help you get control over your debt obligations. Please give us a call back at (877) 200-0760. Again, that number is (877) 200-0760.

This call campaign is problematic because of a high volume of calls, appearing to exceed fifty million per month, and originate from tens of thousands of different numbers. The calls do not clearly identify the company calling, and based on consumer feedback, they appear to target people who never contacted the company or requested a call. Although, the campaign includes a toll-free call back number, it does not highlight that the number can be used to opt out. Further, when calling back, the source of the calls appears to require significant additional information before they can provide the loan, suggesting a risk of identity theft.

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 from well over 20 million phone numbers, 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
ICR for YouMail
[email protected]

SOURCE YouMail Inc.