U.S. Consumers Received Just Under 4.5 Billion Robocalls in July, According to YouMail Robocall Index

Nationwide Robocall Volume Near Lowest Monthly Volumes This Year  

IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. consumers received just under 4.5 billion robocalls in July, representing a 7.6% decrease from June's volume and marking two straight months of declining robocall volumes.

July averaged 144.9 million robocalls/day and 1677 robocalls/second, down a full 10.6% from June's average of 161.9 million robocalls/day and 1874 robocalls/second.

"July's large drop in volume, on the heels of a smaller drop in June, appears to be due to new regulations requiring all smaller carriers and gateways support Stir/Shaken," said YouMail CEO Alex Quilici. "This is a positive sign that it's at least temporarily gotten more difficult for scammers to get their calls on the US telephony network."

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

Most Unwanted Robocall in July: Google Search Listing Scam

July saw between 30 and 40 million telemarketing calls that appeared to be targeting potential business owners with a scam based on threatening to pull their business listing from Google like this example.

Hello and please don't hang up. We tried to contact you numerous times about your Google business listing. Our records show your Google business listing may be suspended or not verified through Google cost customers are able to find your business press one to speak with a listing pro expert. So we can quickly check the status of your Google business listing. This will only take a few minutes. Press nine if you wish to be removed from this list.

In July, these calls appear to have come from over ten thousand different numbers. This call is a scam and is related to other similar Google Listing scam calls that have been made all year long, but with what appears to be increasing volumes as the months go by.

July's Unwanted Call Volume Was Down Significantly

Americans received just over 1.7 billion unwanted scam and telemarketing calls in July, down nearly 300 million calls from June. This was primarily driven by a 28% decrease in spam calls, and helped by another 6% decrease in telemarketing calls. Notifications were up slightly, while payment reminders decreased during the month.

Some calls initially viewed as telemarketing are eventually identified 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 contains clearly illegal or fraudulent behavior, such as a call from an enterprise imposter, or one that has a spoofed caller ID. Stir/Shaken mandated deployment by June 30^th appears to have materially reduced 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.

"Winners" in July 2023

The top cities, area codes, and states with the most robocalls and robocalls/person remained mostly unchanged from June, with two exceptions. Dallas's 214 area code took over Atlanta's 678 as the third most robocalled area code, and Memphis's 901 area code took over from Boston's 857 as the area code with third most robocalls per person.

The one exception is Atlanta's 678 area code, which traded places with Dallas's 214 area code for 3^rd most robocalled area code, giving the Atlanta area two of the top three area codes by volume.

These data points are provided by YouMail, a free call protection app for mobile phones. YouMail 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 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 Indextm 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.