U.S. Consumers Received Just Under 4.5 Billion Robocalls in September, According to YouMail Robocall Index

First Month This Year with a Year-Over-Year Increase in Robocalls

IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. consumers received just under 4.5 billion robocalls in September, which was only a 0.6% increase from August, and a 5% increase over September 2023. September is the first month this year to show a year over year increase and, for the year so far, there have been 38.8 billion robocalls, down 8% from 2023.

September averaged 149.4 million robocalls/day and 1,729 robocalls/second, up 3.9% from August's 143.8 million robocalls/day and 1,664 robocalls/second.

"Despite creeping up the past few months, robocall volume in 2024 continues to hold at lower levels, roughly 8% lower than in 2023," said YouMail CEO Alex Quilici. "This is good news, but it's also not heading even lower, as robocalls are still a prime source of consumer complaints to agencies like the FCC."

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.

The Mix of Robocalls Changed Significantly in September

While total robocalls were almost constant, telemarketing calls in September went down by about 20% versus August, while spam calls were only up about 2%. What went up substantially were various alerts and reminders, up over 31% month over month. 

Together, scam calls and telemarketing calls were under 2 billion robocalls/month, roughly 44% of all robocalls. Scam calls continue to run at levels slightly lower than a year ago, and substantially lower than previous years. Telemarketing robocalls seem to bounce around, as do robocall alerts and reminders.

Looking at the long-term trends, spam has gone down substantially, telemarketing calls have increased substantially, and alerts and reminder robocalls have grown somewhat.

September 2024's Most Annoying Robocalling Campaign

The most problematic robocall campaign in September is a campaign related to personal loans, like calls from this number.

Hi there, this is Amy. I'm a senior underwriter with our Approval Department. I'm just reaching out to let you know it appears we have a pre-approval for up to $72,000 with payments starting as low as $4.40 a month. Please give us a call back here at (866) 659-0805. Again, that number is (866) 659-0805.

This call is problematic because of a high volume of calls, in the tens of millions, placed from tens of thousands of different numbers. The calls vary slightly in the name used, including Amy, Jennifer, and Sarah, but otherwise they are identical. The calls do not clearly identify the company calling, they do not include a toll-free number for opting out, and based on feedback from consumers, they appear to be calling people who never contact the company or asked to be called. They do provide a call back number, and when calling back they appear to require significant additional information before they can provide the loan., which suggests there is a risk of identity theft. They further appear to use the names of companies that when contacted or on their web sites say they are not making these calls and this is not them.

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 for YouMail
Lumina Communications
[email protected]

SOURCE YouMail, Inc.