Robocalls in April dropped 9% from March to just over 4.5 billion, according to a new report from YouMail, provider of call blocking technology.
The April level was similar to what was experienced between August and February, when robocalls were in the range of 4.2 billion to 4.7 billion robocalls per month.
The continued problem of robocalls, at roughly 52.8 billion over the last 12 months, has led to significant financial losses for American consumers, according to YouMail – with more than $40 billion in direct financial losses. Another downside is that Americans increasingly don’t answer their phones, even for potentially legitimate calls.
Businesses were the target of the most unwanted robocalls during the last month. One of the most prevalent robocalling campaigns involved scammers ostensibly pitching ways for businesses to get significant funds for employees they kept on payroll during the pandemic.
Although the calls came from tens of thousands of different numbers, they all involved voicemail messages from “Amber Walton” requesting a return call. The calls appear to violate various telemarketing regulations, YouMail said.
Some calls initially viewed as telemarketing are eventually recognized as illegal telemarketing or scam calls, according to YouMail, which credited the FCC’s STIR/SHAKEN program for reducing the number of calls based on spoofed IDs.
“April’s decrease in the robocall volume is nice to see after the spike we saw in March,” Alex Quilici, said YouMail CEO, said in a prepared statement. “Still, the overall volumes of robocalls remain high, and consumers still need to protect themselves with robocall blocking apps.”
In addition to robocalls, Americans are dealing with a growing number of robotexts, according to a recent Robokiller report.
