U.S. Endures 4.7 Billion Robocalls in July, According to YouMail Robocall Index

IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 6, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Americans received 4.7 billion robocalls in July, up 7.5% from June, though still down over 10% from the all-time high of 5.2 billion robocalls in March. The U.S. has received just under 34 billion robocalls already this year.

Robocalls are once again on the uptick, after three consecutive months with reduced robocall volumes. The month of July averaged over 150 million robocalls per day alone, or 1,746 robocalls per second. These latest monthly figures come from YouMail, a totally free robocall blocking solution for mobile phones.

"I'm sure everyone was hoping the past three-month decline in robocall volumes would keep going," said YouMail CEO Alex Quilici. "Unfortunately, it looks like we may be headed back up to the same crazy high volumes we had earlier in the year."

Scam and Telemarketing Calls Increase in July

The increase in robocalls for the month was based on a roughly 10% increase in scam and telemarketing robocalls, with scam calls once again clearly hitting the 2 billion mark for the month.

In July, five types of scams exceeded more than 100 million calls each: Health/Health Insurance Scams, Interest Rate Scams, Student Loan Scams, Social Security Scams, and Warranty Scams. Social Security Scams saw the biggest increase, up 30% in the month.

Top Scam Robocalls in July 2019

The top 5 specific annoying telemarketing and/or scam calls people got in the U.S. were the following:

These scams are very similar to last month, except that an illegal telemarketing/scam campaign around pre-approved health insurance plans is no longer the top campaign annoying American consumers. However, this scam has been replaced with another health-insurance related campaign.

Once again, just five individuals or groups of individuals likely caused roughly 250 million collective robocalls in July. Further, four of the top five problematic campaigns use caller ID spoofing in all of their calls – with some effectively creating a new number for each call they made. This suggests the FCC's efforts to combat spoofing are critical to be able to stop these sorts of campaigns.

"Winners" in July 2019

The cities, area codes and states with the highest volumes of robocalls in July were similar to the volumes from June, though all the leaders experienced decreased volumes.

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 from reaching mobile phones, 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.