IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 10, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --The nation's robocalling problem continues to grow, reaching a new record of 4.4 billion robocalls received nationwide in September, the highest number of monthly robocalls recorded since the YouMail Robocall Index launched in 2015, and an 83.9% year-over-year increase. The volume equals some 147 million calls placed every day during September, or 1,701 robocalls for every second of the month, both new records.

Month Calls/Month Calls/Day Calls/Hour Call/Minute Calls/Second Sept. 2018 4.409 billion 147.0 million 6.12 million 102,060 1,701 Aug. 2018 4.220 billion 136.1 million 5.67 million 94,548 1,576 Jul. 2018 3.999 billion 129.0 million 5.37 million 89,603 1,493 Jun. 2018 4.125 billion 137.4 million 5.72 million 95,479 1,591 May 2018 4.060 billion 130.9 million 5.45 million 90,961 1,516 Apr. 2018 3.361 billion 112.0 million 4.66 million 77,802 1,297 Mar. 2018 3.156 billion 101.8 million 4.24 million 70,695 1,178 Feb. 2018 2.747 billion 98.1 million 4.08 million 68,149 1,136 Jan. 2018 2.397 billion 92.7 million 3.86 million 64,408 1,073

These latest monthly figures come from YouMail, a free robocall blocking solution for mobile phones. YouMail uses its patented smart blocking technology to block 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 of robocall volume across the country each month, and in particular across specific area codes. 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 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as a definitive source for national data trends.

"Our huge national robocalling problem is getting bigger, despite the efforts of regulators and carriers," said YouMail CEO Alex Quilici. "To minimize the damage from this epidemic, we need everyone to continue not answering unknown numbers, use call blocking apps like ours, and make sure they do their homework before calling numbers back."

Robocalls Continue to Be Driven by Scams

Scams and telemarketing calls together now account for roughly 61% of all robocalls. The result is that a very large percentage of robocalls are calls that people just don't want.

Type of Robocall Estimated September Robocalls Percentage of August Robocalls Alerts and Reminders 723 million (-247 million) 16% (flat) Payment Reminders 1.00 billion (+30 million) 23% (-1%) Telemarketing 877 million (+120 million) 20% (+2%) Scams 1.80. billion (+40 million) 41% (-1%)

The top five scam types changed only slightly between August and September. Health Insurance Scams continue to be number one, with over 400 million scam robocalls. In fact, a single health insurance spammer produced more than 250 million calls using roughly 264 different numbers from the 201 area code based in Newark, New Jersey.

Rank Type of Scam Estimated Sept Robocalls Summary of Scam 1 Health and Health Insurance Scams 408 million (-1 million) Identify theft/scam payments 2 Easy Money Scams 187 million (+62 million) Payment required to make money 3 Interest Rate Scams 146 million (flat) Identity theft 4 Student Loan Scams 74 million (+10 million) Identify theft/scam payments 5 Search Listing Scams 72 million (-13 million) Payment to maintain search listing

In the rest of the top five list: Easy Money Scams increased volumes by 50% to move into the second position, while Interest Rate Scams stayed approximately flat in volume to take third place. Student Loan Scams moved up 10 million to take fourth, and Search Listing Scams dropped 13 million to fall into the fifth spot.

Who Gets the Most Robocalls

Texas is estimated to have gotten 501.4 million robocalls, the first state to receive more than one-half billion robocalls during a month. The state rankings by robocall volumes are:

Rank State Calls 1 Texas 501.4m 2 California 489.8m 3 Florida 333.0m 4 Georgia 286.8m 5 New York 277.3m 6 Illinois 162.7m 7 Ohio 158.8m 8 Pennsylvania 150.5m 9 North Carolina 135.5m 10 Louisiana 123.8m 11 Michigan 119.4m 12 Tennessee 118.8m 13 New Jersey 113.6m 14 Virginia 104.3m 15 Alabama 100.5m 16 Maryland 98.3m 17 Arizona 86.5m 18 South Carolina 74.5m 19 Missouri 71.4m 20 Indiana 70.2m 21 Colorado 62.3m 22 Washington 60.8m 23 Arkansas 52.0m 24 Connecticut 48.5m 25 Oklahoma 46.1m 26 Nevada 45.0m 27 Mississippi 43.8m 28 Kentucky 41.3m 29 Wisconsin 39.6m 30 Massachusetts 39.4m 31 Minnesota 36.9m 32 Oregon 32.7m 33 Utah 31.7m 34 District of Columbia 27.9m 35 Kansas 22.7m 36 Iowa 19.7m 37 Idaho 16.0m 38 New Mexico 15.0m 39 Delaware 14.0m 40 Nebraska 13.9m 41 New Hampshire 10.5m 42 Hawaii 10.4m 43 Maine 9.8m 44 West Virginia 9.5m 45 Montana 9.4m 46 South Dakota 9.1m 47 Rhode Island 9.0m 48 Wyoming 6.1m 49 North Dakota 5.7m 50 Vermont 4.4m 51 Alaska 2.2m

The top 50 cities ranked by robocall volume are:

Rank City-Area Est Calls

1 Atlanta, GA 192.3m

2 Dallas, TX 171.9m

3 New York, NY 153.0m

4 Los Angeles, CA 147.3m

5 Houston, TX 142.3m

6 Chicago, IL 141.2m

7 Baltimore, MD 98.3m

8 Phoenix, AZ 86.5m

9 San Francisco Bay Area, CA 83.4m

10 Newark, NJ 82.0m

11 Philadelphia, PA 78.1m

12 Detroit, MI 71.7m

13 Miami, FL 58.0m

14 Ft. Lauderdale, FL 54.0m

15 San Diego, CA 51.3m

16 Riverside, CA 49.7m

17 Tampa, FL 46.1m

18 Buffalo, NY 43.5m

19 Charlotte, NC 41.8m

20 Seattle, WA 41.2m

21 New Orleans, LA 40.2m

22 Denver, CO 40.0m

23 Memphis, TN 39.9m

24 Cleveland, OH 39.6m

25 Birmingham, AL 38.7m

26 Las Vegas, NV 38.5m

27 Orlando, FL 38.4m

28 Augusta, GA 36.9m

29 Sacramento, CA 36.3m

30 Fresno, CA 36.0m

31 Bakersfield, CA 35.0m

32 Boston, MA 34.3m

33 Columbus, OH 34.1m

34 Baton Rouge, LA 33.8m

35 Austin, TX 33.7m

36 St. Louis, MO 33.3m

37 San Antonio, TX 33.3m

38 Indianapolis, IN 32.9m

39 Alexandria, VA 32.6m

40 Camden, NJ 31.6m

41 Columbia, SC 31.2m

42 Nashville, TN 29.7m

43 Virginia Peninsula 29.4m

44 Minneapolis, MN 29.2m

45 Pittsburgh, PA 28.7m

46 Long Beach, CA 28.1m

47 Washington, DC 27.9m

48 Oklahoma City, OK 27.8m

49 Shreveport, LA 27.4m

50 Raleigh, NC 27.1m

































Hurricane Florence appears to have driven down robocalls to cities in the Carolinas. There were big decreases in robocalls in North Carolina, including Fayetteville down 17.5%; Greenville down 16%; Greensboro down 16%; and Raleigh down 11.7%. In addition, South Carolina received fewer robocalls: Charleston saw a 7.6% drop, and Columbia saw a 3.9% drop.

For more information about the YouMail Robocall Index or to view the monthly reports, please visit http://robocallindex.com . To join the YouMail Robocall Index mailing list, please write to [email protected] .

About YouMail, Inc.

YouMail, Inc. is the leading provider of intelligent, cloud-based telecommunication services. The company's flagship service provides an automated virtual receptionist that replaces the subscriber's voicemail on iPhone , Android , and Windows phones. This service stops robocalls , and delights other callers by instantly greeting, routing, and responding to them, personally and memorably, and even provides free conference calls YouMail also provides data on problematic phone number behavior, through a reverse phone lookup service that allows anyone to identify and comment on suspicious numbers, an application program interface (API) that any telecom service provider or third-party developer can use to determine whether a number is problematic, and the YouMail Robocall Index™ , which since its launch in in September 2015 has emerged as the nation's definitive source on robocalling data for telecom carriers, smartphone and app companies, and public policymakers. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., YouMail, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is privately funded.

Contact:

Keya Balar for YouMail

Lumina Communications

[email protected]

646-791-9600

SOURCE YouMail, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.youmail.com/

