U.S. Phones Received 4.6 Billion Robocalls in October, Says YouMail Robocall Index

Monthly Robocall Volume Jumps Almost 9% Over Prior Month

IRVINE, Calif., Nov. 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Americans received just under 4.6 billion robocalls in October, marking an 8.9% increase from September on a monthly basis, and a 5.4% increase on a daily basis. Specifically, October averaged 147.5 million calls/day and 1,707 calls/second, compared to September which averaged 139.9 million calls/day and 1,619 calls/second. 

So far in the first 10 months of this year, US consumers have received some 41.3 billion robocalls, and the country continues on a pace to approach 50 billion robocalls for the year, slightly less than last year.

"We're seeing that robocall volumes appear to be increasing slowly this year, despite stepped up enforcement and the roll out of Stir/Shaken," said YouMail CEO Alex Quilici. "There continues to be a need for consumers to change their behavior and protect themselves with robocall blocking apps."

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

This month's most unwanted robocall campaign is a solicitation for potential medical compensation related to Camp Lejeune, as in this example. This campaign appears to have made over 50 million robocalls in October from thousands of different numbers. Like many other illegal telemarketing or scam calls, they appear to be violating a variety of telemarketing regulations, as they do not immediately identify the entity making the call, do not provide a call back number, and appear to be calling people who did not give prior consent. Here is the call transcript:   

"Please listen carefully. You may have potential compensation due to you if you would like to opt out, please press one immediately. Once again, if you would like to opt out, please press one immediately.  This message is in regards to Camp Lejeune. If you or anyone you know visited Camp Lejeune from August 1^st, 1953 through December 31st, 1987 and developed medical complications, diseases and medical issues, you were likely due compensation due to being exposed to toxic water and contamination. To join to get compensation simply press two to speak to a case specialist. Once again this is for anyone you know that attended Camp Lejeune between from August 1^st, 1953, through December 31^st, 1987 and developed medical complications, diseases and other medical issues, you were likely due compensation. Press two to speak to a case specialist." "

Together, there were roughly 2.2 billion unwanted scam and telemarketing calls in October, up roughly 100 million from September. Notifications and reminders each increased 15% for the month, which appears to be a mix of political "get out of the vote" reminder robocalls and an increase in reminders to people behind on credit card or other payments. One bright spot is that scam and spam robocalls together now make up only 47% of all robocall volume, continuing the recent downward trend.

Some calls initially viewed as telemarketing are eventually recognized as illegal telemarketing or scam calls, so it's important to measure the overall quantity of scam and spam calls combined. A scam call is one that has clearly illegal or fraudulent behavior, such as a call from an enterprise imposter, or one that has a spoofed caller ID. Stir/Shaken continues to reduce the number of robocall campaigns based on spoofed IDs, which drives down the number of obvious scam calls by making them harder to detect, since they appear to be telemarketing campaigns unless there is other evidence of fraud. 

There were only two changes to the cities, area codes, and states getting the most robocalls in October, as Dallas's 214 code replaced Atlanta's 678 overlay area code as the 3^rd most robocalled area code. In addition, Alabama displaced Tennessee as the 3^rd most robocalled state in terms of per-capita robocalls. The top locations generally fell in line with the roughly 6% overall decline in robocalls this month, with a few exceptions like Baton Rouge that declined 10% in the month and Louisiana as a whole, which declined 9% in calls per person.

These data points are provided by YouMail, a free call protection 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].

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:
Rohan Notaney for YouMail
Lumina Communications
[email protected]

SOURCE YouMail Inc.