The number of robocalls made to U.S. consumers during September — almost 4.5 billion — was just 0.6% higher than the number of robocalls in August, YouMail Inc. revealed in a report this week.
According to the report, September is the first month of 2024 to demonstrate a year-over-year increase: robocalls rose 5% compared with September 2023.
There have been 38.8 billion robocalls so far in 2024, down 8% from 2023.
“Despite creeping up the past few months, robocall volume in 2024 continues to hold at lower levels, roughly 8% lower than in 2023,” said Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail, in a press release about the robocall report. “This is good news, but it’s also not heading even lower, as robocalls are still a prime source of consumer complaints to agencies like the FCC.”
YouMail produces the YouMail Robocall Index, a report that estimates monthly robocall volume in the U.S. and for specific area codes. The index extrapolates data from the behavior of the billions of calls that YouMail handles for its users. The FCC cites these statistics as a definitive source for national data trends, YouMail said.
The index also tracks the types of robocalls that are placed. It found that the mix of robocalls changed significantly in September.
While total robocalls were virtually constant, the report showed that telemarketing calls in September decreased by approximately 20% compared with August and scam calls increased 2%. Alerts and reminders, however, rose substantially at more than 32% month-over-month.
In the long-term, spam has dropped substantially, telemarketing calls have risen substantially, and alerts and reminder robocalls have inched up slightly.
The “most annoying” robocall campaign in September, according to the report, pertained to personal loans and sounded something like this: “Hi there, this is Amy. I’m a senior underwriter with our Approval Department. I’m just reaching out to let you know it appears we have a pre-approval for up to $72,000 with payments starting as low as $4.40 a month. Please give us a call back here at XXX-XXX-XXXX. Again, that number is XXX-XXX-XXXX.”
This spam campaign produced tens of millions of calls, placed from tens of thousands of different numbers. The calls provided a call back number, but those who called back said significant additional information was required before the loan would be approved, suggesting there was a risk of identity theft. They also appeared to use company names that, when contacted or on their web sites, stated this is not them.
In August, Telecompetitor spoke with John Haraburda — Director Product Management: Identity and Protection at Transaction Network Services (TNS) — who described the difficult, ongoing process of identifying and stopping robocalls.
