TMCnet News

Robocall Volumes Shatter the National Record for Fourth Straight Month
[July 12, 2018]

Robocall Volumes Shatter the National Record for Fourth Straight Month


IRVINE, Calif., July 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The American public was inundated by 4.12 billion robocalls in June, setting a new national record for the fourth consecutive month and spiking 63% over the monthly total from June of last year.

That record pace equaled roughly 1,591 robocalls placed every second during June, or 137.5 million calls for every day of the month. The June total represents the highest per-second/per-day volume of robocalls ever recorded since YouMail launched the Robocall Index in 2015.

Fully 40 of the 50 Most Robocalled Cities in America (80%) recorded month-on-month calling increases during June, bringing the national total to 20.3 billion robocalls in the first six months of 2018, a 39% increase from the first half of 2017. 

These latest monthly figures come from YouMail, a free robocall blocking solution for mobile phones helps consumers stop robocalls from ever reaching their phones. 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 that the number they dialed is invalid.

The YouMail Robocall Index™ is a compilation of the scope and location of the worst robocalling hotspots across the country by area code, and these statistics are regularly cited by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as a definitive source for national data trends. The growth trend indicates that robocallers, especially those from business interests, are making even more calls to try to get through to consumers.

"We continue to witness an accelerating pace of robocalls even as consumers are wisely picking up fewer of these calls from unknown numbers, while downloading more robocall blocking apps onto their phones," said Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail. "The irony here is that this defensive behavior has only motivated the robocallers to step up their pace of dialing, rather than decreasing it."

How Robocalls Break Down

June was very similar to May in terms of how robocalls broke down into different categories. As in May, there were well over 1 billion scam calls in June, which works out to over 37 million scam calls per day.





Category

Est. June Robocalls

% Of June Robocalls

Alerts and Reminders

990m

24%

Payment Reminders

990m

24%

Telemarketing

1.06b

25%

Scams

1.12b

27%


Who Gets the Most Robocalls

Atlanta topped the YouMail 50 Most Robocalled Cities in America list for the 31st month in a row. Atlanta residents were bombed by 189.2 million robocalls in June, a 7% increase over the prior month. The Top 50 Cities that notched the biggest monthly increases for June included Miami (up 14% to 64.7 million); Phoenix (up 10% to 78.3 million); and Seattle (up 10% to 40.8 million).

Atlanta's 404 area code was by far the most robocalled area code in June, with 84.2 million calls received, followed by Atlanta's 678 area code with 58.9 million calls received. Texas area codes claimed the third and fourth rankings for June, with Houston's 832 area code getting 58.9 million calls and Dallas' 214 area code getting 58.6 million calls. Fort Lauderdale's 954 area code rounded out the top five area code list with 53.9 million calls received.

California, the nation's most populous state, retained its top ranking on the list of most-robocalled states for June, with 468.9 million robocalls received. Texas was close behind at 437.4 million calls received, followed by Florida (331.0 million), Georgia (273.9 million), and New York (260.2 million).

South Dakota registered the biggest monthly percentage increase of any state, rising 19.3%, followed by Massachusetts (+17.5%), Kansas (+12.6%), Arizona (+9.9%), and Washington (+8.4%).

Who Makes the Most Robocalls

The top 20 phone numbers in June produced 197.9 million calls during the month.

Robocalls involving debt collectors or payment reminders made up 17 of the 20 top robocalling numbers in June. One national credit card company retained the country's most active robocalling phone number with 37.3 million calls placed in June alone. Over the past 33 months of the Robocall Index, this single robocalling number has placed 980.5 million calls.

New York City placed 126.6 million robocalls in June, rising two spots in the rankings to unseat Chicago as the #1 robocalling city for the month.

Anchorage, AK, notched a 198.1% increase in outbound calls in June, driven by 1.3 million calls placed by 907-275-8202, a car warranty robocalling line.

In addition to receiving the most robocalls of any state, California also produced more robocalls than any other state for June, with 324.9 million outbound calls in the month. Alaska recorded the largest percentage increase of outbound calls, rising 198.1% in June, followed by Wyoming (+97.4%), Hawaii (61.4%), Maryland (+59.4%), and Delaware (28.3%).

For more information about the YouMail Robocall Index or to view the latest report, please visit http://robocallindex.com. To join the YouMail Robocall Index mailing list, please write to [email protected].

About YouMail, Inc.
YouMail, Inc. is the leading provider of intelligent, cloud-based telecommunication services. The company's flagship service provides an automated virtual receptionist that replaces the subscriber's voicemail on iPhone, Android, and Windows phones. This service stops robocalls, and delights other callers by instantly greeting, routing, and responding to them, personally and memorably, and even provides free conference calls YouMail also provides data on problematic phone number behavior, through a reverse phone lookup service that allows anyone to identify and comment on suspicious numbers, an application program interface (API) that any telecom service provider or third-party developer can use to determine whether a number is problematic, and 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

 

Cision View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/robocall-volumes-shatter-the-national-record-for-fourth-straight-month-300679966.html

SOURCE YouMail, Inc.


[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]