Americans received just under 4 billion robocalls in May, a 9.9% decrease in volume over April, marking the second straight decrease in monthly volumes and the lowest levels of robocalls this year. In May, robocalls averaged 128.7 million calls/day and 1,490 calls/second, down from April’s 147.6 million calls/day and 1,708 calls/second.
Despite this decline in the pace of robocalls, Americans have received just under 22 billion robocalls in the first five months of the year, on pace to hit over 52 billion robocalls for the year.
“It’s great to see a second straight month of declining robocall traffic, but we aren’t getting too excited about the decline,” said YouMail CEO Alex Quilici. “We believe the decline is due to continuing and expanding lockdowns in India based on the prevalence of Covid-19 there, which once again has closed or reduced the capacity of call centers.”
May 2021 Saw A Big Decrease In Scam Calls
In May, combined scam calls and telemarketing calls accounted for roughly 63% of the month’s total robocall volume, similar to the April results. However, the number of scam and telemarketing calls declined to 2.4 billion calls for the month. This is a very substantial number of likely unwanted and/or illegal calls, but it reflects a decline of 19% in scam calls and 8% in telemarketing calls.
| Type ofRobocall | Estimated AprilRobocalls | Percentage AprilRobocalls |
| Scams | 1.7 billion (-19%) | 43% (-5%) |
| Alerts and Reminders | 1.1 billion (flat) | 26% (+2%) |
| Payment Reminders | .56 billion (flat) | 14% (+2%) |
| Telemarketing | .66 billion (-8%) | 16% (+1%) |
Top Illegal Robocalls in May 2021
Once again, the leading illegal types of robocalls in April continued to be those involving Car Warranties and Health-Related Scams. Both categories shrunk very significantly in volume versus April, with both having roughly 100 million fewer calls in the month.
| Rank | Type of Scam | Estimated April Robocalls | Summary of Scam |
| 1 | Warranty Scams | 252 million (-106m) | Scam payments/illegal solicitations |
| 2 | Health-Related Scams | 168 million (-94m) | Identify theft/scam payments/illegal solicitations |
“Winners” in May 2021
In May, we recorded three changes in the cities and area codes registering the highest volumes of robocalls over April. Washington, DC replaced Memphis, Tennessee as the second most robocalled city on a per capita basis. California surpassed Florida as the second most robocalled state. And South Carolina and Louisiana replaced Alabama and Tennessee as the states with the most robocalls per person.
| Cities with the Most Robocalls: | Atlanta, GA (154.5 million, -7%)Dallas, TX (147.3 million, -6%) |
| Cities with the Most Robocalls/Person: | Baton Rouge, LA (32.7/person, -15%)Washington, DC (32.3/person, -5%) |
| Area Codes with the Most Robocalls: | 404 in Atlanta, GA (65.3 million, -7%)214 in Dallas, TX (55.2 million, -5%) |
| Area Codes with the Most Robocalls/Person: | 404 in Atlanta, GA (53.4/person, -7%)225 in Baton Rouge, LA (32.7/person, -15%) |
| State with the Most Robocalls: | Texas (470.4 billion, -8%)California (349.7 million, -4%) |
| State with the Most Robocalls/Person: | South Carolina (23.8/person, -8%)Louisiana (22.8/person, -13%) |
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