Americans received just under 4.1 billion robocalls in August, a 4.4% decrease in volume over July. In August, robocalls averaged 130.9 million calls/day and 1,515 calls/second, down 3.8% from June’s 136.3 million calls/day and 1,578 calls/second.
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Americans have received over 34 billion robocalls so far this year, averaging roughly 4.3 billion robocalls calls/month, putting the country on a pace to hit roughly 52 billion robocalls for the year. However, since STIR/SHAKEN and new federal robocall mitigation rules took effect on June 30, we have seen 8.6% fewer robocalls/month.
These latest monthly 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.
“We’ve now seen the second straight month with a decline in robocalls since the STIR/SHAKEN rollout on June 30th, with its dramatic impact on the ability of robocallers to reach consumers with illegal, spoofed calls,” said YouMail CEO Alex Quilici. “However, we have not gone off a cliff in robocall volume, and the volume of calls is still within the general range it has been in all year, so illegal robocallers clearly haven’t given up in their attempts to reach consumers.”
August 2021 Saw a Big Decrease in Scam Calls
In August, the number of scam calls decreased by 11%, the second significant monthly percentage decline in scam calls, likely showing the impact of STIR/SHAKEN. However, while telemarketing calls were roughly flat, there was a meaningful increase in legal robocalls around alerts and reminders and payment reminders.
|
Type of Robocall |
Estimated July Robocalls |
Percentage July Robocalls |
|
Scams |
1.5 billion (-11%) |
38% (-4%) |
|
Alerts and Reminders |
1.1 billion (+11%) |
26% (+3%) |
|
Payment Reminders |
0.66 billion (+8%) |
16% (+2%) |
|
Telemarketing |
0.82 billion (+2%) |
21% (-1%) |
Top Illegal Robocalls in August 2021
As in past months, Car Warranty calls and Health-Related scam calls continued to be the top types of robocalls, however they are occurring at lower levels. Car Warranty calls continued to lead the way with 212 million calls, down roughly 38 million calls in the month. Health-Related Scams calls decreased to 116 million calls, down a whopping 89 million calls compared to the month of July.
|
Rank |
Type of Scam |
Estimated July Robocalls |
Summary of Scam |
|
1 |
Warranty Scams |
212 million (-28m) |
Scam payments/illegal solicitations |
|
2 |
Health-Related Scams |
116 million (-89m) |
Identify theft/scam payments/illegal solicitations |
“Winners” in August 2021
In August, there were several changes in the cities and states registering the highest volumes of robocalls versus July. Memphis, Tennessee returned as the second most robocalled city on a per capita basis, following Baton Rouge. Macon, Georgia, slipped to third place. Louisiana is once again the most robocalled state on a per capita basis, as Tennessee falls to third place.
|
Cities with the Most Robocalls: |
Atlanta, GA (154.4 million, flat) Dallas, TX (139.9 million, -4%) |
|
Cities with the Most Robocalls/Person: |
Baton Rouge, LA (36.6/person, +1%) Memphis, TN (31.6%, -3%) |
|
Area Codes with the Most Robocalls: |
404 in Atlanta, GA (65.2 million, +1%) 214 in Dallas, TX (53.9 million, -4%) |
|
Area Codes with the Most Robocalls/Person: |
404 in Atlanta, GA (55.3/person, +1%) 215 in Baton Rouge, LA (36.5, +1%) |
|
State with the Most Robocalls: |
Texas (466.3 million, -3%) California (383.8 million, flat) |
|
State with the Most Robocalls/Person: |
Louisiana (24,4/person, flat) South Carolina (24,2/person, -6%) |
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These data 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.
