The 2024 Election Fueled a Large Increase in Robocalls
IRVINE, Calif., Nov. 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — U.S. consumers received just under 4.9 billion robocalls in October, which was a 9.5% increase from September, and a 6.5% increase from October 2023. October was the highest month in volume since August 2023, although it’s likely an anomaly driven by election-related robocalling. So far this year, the news is still positive, as there have been 43.7 billion robocalls, down 3.3% from the same time period in 2023.
October averaged 158.4 million robocalls/day and 1,833 robocalls/second, up 3.9% from September’s 149.4 million robocalls/day and 1,729 robocalls/second.
“We’ve seen a big jump in robocalls over the past few months, however 2024 continues to be 3% lower than 2023,” said YouMail CEO Alex Quilici. “It also looks like most of the increase is election driven, so we fully expect to see volumes drop materially over the next few months.”
These latest figures are provided by YouMail, a totally free app to protect consumers from unwanted or dangerous calls, texts, and voicemails. The figures are determined by extrapolating from the robocall traffic attempting to get through to YouMail’s millions of active users.
Most Types of Robocalls Increased In October
Telemarketing calls in October increased by over 21% versus September, while scam calls jumped about 18%. In contrast, non-payment notifications fell 4% and payment notifications were flat.
Type of
Robocall
Estimated October
Robocalls
Percentage October
Robocalls
Notifications
1.53 billion (-3.3%)
31% (-4%)
Payment Reminders
1.01 billion (+7.8%)
21% (flat)
Telemarketing
1.77 billion (+21.5%)
36% (+3%)
Scam
0.59 billion (+18.2%)
12% (+1%)
As a result, scam calls and telemarketing calls grew to over 2.3 billion robocalls for the month, and roughly 48% of all robocalls.
Looking at the long-term trends, spam has dropped substantially, telemarketing calls continue their substantial increase, in part because of the election, and alerts and reminder robocalls have grown somewhat.
October 2024’s Most Annoying Robocalling Campaign
The most problematic robocall campaign in October was a campaign related to personal loans, very similar to the one YouMail highlighted last month, like calls from this number.
Hi, this is Jennifer. I’m an underwriter with our approval department. I’m just calling to let you know it appears you’ve been prequalified for a personal loan of up to $72,000 with payments starting as low as $530 a month. Please give us a call back here at (877) 941-1030. Again, that number is (877) 941-1030.
This call is problematic because of a high volume of calls, in the many tens of millions, placed from tens of thousands of different numbers. The calls vary slightly in the name used, including Amy, Jennifer, and Sarah, but otherwise are identical. The calls do not clearly identify the company calling, and based on feedback from consumers, appear to be calling people who never contacted the company or asked to be called. The campaign has been recently modified to now provide a toll-free call back number but does not highlight that it can be called to opt out. Further, when calling back the source of the calls appear to require significant additional information before they can provide the loan, suggesting a risk of identity theft. The calls further appear to use the names of companies that when contacted or on their websites say they are not responsible for making these calls.
The Source of This Data
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 RobocallIndex@YouMail.com.
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 from well over 20 million phone numbers, 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 Index™ is the nation’s definitive source on telephone network activity and attacks. YouMail, Inc. is privately funded and based in Irvine, California.
Contact:
Gabriella Troiani for YouMail
Lumina Communications
YouMailPR@luminapr.com
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SOURCE YouMail Inc.
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