U.S. Consumers Received Nearly 4.4 Billion Robocalls in December, 52.8 Billion in All of 2024, According to YouMail Robocall Index

Annual Robocall Volume Fell 4.5% From 2023

IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. consumers received just under 4.4 billion robocalls in December 2024, marking a 7.8% decrease from November 2024, according to YouMail's latest Robocall Index.  

YouMail also reports robocallers targeted U.S. consumers with 52.8 billion calls over the course of 2024. Robocalls volume was down 4.2% from the 55.1 billion robocalls recorded in 2023. Over the past four years, however, we have seen overall robocall volume remain between approximately 50 billion and 55 billion robocalls.

On a monthly basis, December averaged 140.6 million robocalls/day and 1,627 robocalls/second, down 7.8% from November's 157.6 million robocalls/day and 1,824 robocalls/second. Unfortunately, this was a 15.6% increase on a year-over-year basis from December 2023.

"The good news is that the total robocall volume in 2024 is over 4% lower than 2023, despite the significant late-year increase in election-oriented robocalls" said YouMail CEO Alex Quilici. "However, it's disappointing that robocall volume as a whole continues to exceed 50 billion calls per year, which is still nearly 200 calls for every adult in the country."

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.

All Categories of Robocalls Decreased in December

December saw a nearly 18% decline in scam calls and an 11% decline in notifications. Payment reminders were down 6%, and even telemarketing calls declined 3%.

As a result, scam and telemarketing calls still accounted for over 2.2 billion robocalls for the month, and roughly 52% of all robocalls.

For 2024 as a whole, Telemarketing calls rose by 25%, but all other forms of robocalls declined, including a 22% year-over-year decline in scam calls. The significant increase in telemarketing calls meant that likely unwanted calls hit 25.6 billion for the year, up nearly 9% year over year.

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
ICR Technology
[email protected]

SOURCE YouMail Inc.