Over 4.25 Billion Robocalls in October Mark Nearly 12% Monthly Increase

IRVINE, Calif., Nov. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Americans received over 4.25 billion robocalls in October, an approximately 12% increase from September. In October, robocalls averaged 137.2 million calls/day or roughly 1,588 calls/second, up 8% from 126.9 million calls/day and 1,469 calls/second in September. There have been just over 38 billion robocalls so far in the first 10 months of the year, a pace that suggests a yearly total of around 46 billion robocalls, down from almost 58.5 billion robocalls last year.

These latest monthly figures come from YouMail, a robocall blocking app and call protection service for mobile phones.

“Robocalls have continued to grow steadily as the economy recovers,” said YouMail CEO Alex Quilici. “Unfortunately, if they continue this pace, they will have returned to pre-pandemic levels in the before the end of the year.”

Robocall Categories Saw Spam and Telemarketing Increase Materially

In October, there were nearly 2.6 billion scam and telemarketing calls combined, accounting for over 62% of the month’s total robocall volume. There were nearly as many of these calls in October as there were all types of robocalls in April.

Top Illegal Robocalls in October 2020

In October, Car Warranty Scams, Health-Related Scams, and Government Imposter scams each had over 100 million illegal robocalls, with Car Warranty Scams growing nearly 50% month over month.

“Winners” in October 2020

The cities, area codes and states with the highest volumes of robocalls in October were similar to what we’ve seen over the past few months. Interestingly, while Washington DC remains the city with the most robocalls/person with over 36, Macon, Georgia was a close second with just under 32, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana was third with over 28/person.