MARYLAND — Few things are as irritating as seeing your phone buzz, picking it up and realizing it's a robocall, where someone is trying to trick you into giving up your bank and credit card information. With tax season coming up, you can expect even more of those calls to waste your time.

A record 5.2 billion robocalls were placed last month, according to YouMail's robocall index, and 58 percent of them were scam or telemarketing calls. That includes 123.8 million robocalls in Maryland, an average of 14.9 for every person in the state. Here are the top 20 robocallers in Maryland last month, showing the number, place of origin if known, the carrier, the caller ID and the type of call. They include legitimate debt collectors, a mortgage company, and one school district, along with spammers.

1.

410-222-5000

Baltimore, MD

Verizon Wireless

Anne Arundel County Schools

Unknown Robocaller

2.

443-602-8540

Baltimore, MD

Bandwidth.com CLEC, LLC

Spammer

Prison Call Consent

3.

800-955-6600

Toll Free

Toll Free

Capital One Payments/Collections

Debt Collector

4.

888-423-0900

Toll Free

Toll Free

Verizon Information Line

Customer Call

5.

443-305-9242

Baltimore, MD

Bandwidth.com CLEC, LLC

Generic Robocaller

Generic Robocaller

6.

877-647-8552

Toll Free

Toll Free

Wells Fargo

Debt Collector

7.

240-249-2566

Baltimore, MD

Bandwidth.com CLEC, LLC

Generic Robocaller

Generic Robocaller

8.

888-222-4227

Toll Free

Toll Free

Santander

Debt Collector

9.

301-690-1207

Baltimore, MD

Local Access LLC

Insurance Depar

Unknown Robocaller

10.

301-690-1208

Baltimore, MD

Local Access LLC

+13016901208

Unknown Robocaller

11.

888-393-7162

Toll Free

Toll Free

Bill Me Later

Credit Card Debt Collector

12.

443-960-7322

Baltimore, MD

Twilio

BURNIE MD GLEN

Unknown Robocaller

13.

801-877-1122

Salt Lake City, UT

Onvoy, LLC

Kristy Mcmurray

Unknown Robocaller

14.

301-355-9389

Baltimore, MD

Ymax Communications

+13013559389

Unknown Robocaller

15.

855-895-3382

Toll Free

Toll Free

Fingerhut

Debt Collector

16.

734-521-2063

Detroit, MI

Level 3 Communications

Credit Acceptance

Financial Customer Call

17.

240-745-8085

Baltimore, MD

Local Access LLC

High risk

Unknown Robocaller

18.

800-678-7986

Toll Free

Toll Free

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage

Loan Payment Reminder

19.

240-745-8086

Baltimore, MD

Local Access LLC

DEPAR INSURANCE

Unknown Robocaller

20.

800-266-2278

Toll Free

Toll Free

Comcast Customer Service/Bill Collector

Debt Collector YouMail's index showed that residents in Baton Rouge were bombarded with robocalls last month, ranking No. 1 in the country, with a staggering 58.4 robocalls per person. Washington, D.C. residents saw the second-highest number of calls, at 51.6. Here are the 10 cities receiving the most calls per person in January:

Baton Rouge, LA — 58.4 robocalls per person Washington, D.C. — 51.6 robocalls per person Memphis, TN — 42.3 robocalls per person Macon, GA — 37.4 robocalls per person Lafayette, LA — 33.3 robocalls per person Little Rock, AR — 33.3 robocalls per person Birmingham, AL — 31.5 robocalls per person Albany, GA — 31.5 robocalls per person Las Vegas, NV — 31.2 robocalls per person Shreveport, LA — 30.9 robocalls per person YouMail says the nationwide rise coincides with a "search listing scam," where robocallers dupe small business owners into giving up credit card information. The scammer promises to boost the business' ranking in Google search listings. And with more and more tax filers sending their returns to the IRS, don't expect scam robocalls to decline anytime soon.

In fact, a new report from the data communication network company Transaction Network Services found that April 17, 2018 — Tax Day — saw more negative robocalls than any other day of the year. That month saw the highest volume of the year. The researchers noted that call spoofing — when scammers change their caller ID so they match your area code — remains the go-to tactic for bad actors. One in every 4,000 phone numbers was hijacked by a spoofer, the company found.

Bill Versen, chief product officer at the company, said consumers need to be "especially vigilant" as Tax Day approaches, and keep their guard up.

The FCC offers a few tips for those wanting to stop unwanted and illegal robocalls. Among them, don't answer calls from unknown numbers, do not respond to questions — especially those that can be answered with "yes" — and never give out personal information such as account numbers, Social Security numbers and mother's maiden names. (For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here. And like Patch on Facebook!)

