Alaska has greatest increase in ‘robocalls’ for the third straight month

WASILLA — What are commonly known as ‘robocalls’ are an annoyance for many Americans. According to YouMail, for the third straight month, Alaska led the nation in the greatest month-to-month increase in robocalls placed to residents.

Robocalls are phone calls made using a computerized auto-dialer. The person picking up their phone usually gets a pre-recorded message to listen to. According to YouMail, a private, for profit “intelligent call manager”, US consumers have received 14.6 billion such calls since the beginning of the year. In the month of June alone, YouMail reported 2.53 billion robocalls were sent equaling about 976 calls per second.

According to YouMail, Alaska posted the biggest month-on-month increase in robocalls of any state at 67.8 percent, followed by Massachusetts at 22.1 percent. This marks the third straight month in which Alaska recorded the largest monthly gains of any state, highlighting that living in rural areas is no longer a safe hideaway from getting robocalls.

Companies like YouMail compile robocalling data information across the country by area code and even by phone prefix. Last week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), voted unanimously to evaluate a system that would allow phone companies to check if a number calling you is legit. The goal, FCC officials said, is to deter unscrupulous companies making such automated calls from "spoofing," or using a fake phone number to trick you into answering the call.

Officials said such a call authentication system could help improve third-party apps that allow consumers to block these calls. It could also open the door to phone companies that may want to offer a service to block unwanted calls. The FCC has already been considering rules that would allow phone companies to block robocalls from unassigned numbers or from numbers that don't exist.

“Automated robo-dialing systems make the economics very cheap to quickly place thousands or even millions of robocalls, causing robocalls to flood almost every area code and region in the country,” said Alex Quilici, YouMail CEO. “Americans are starting to fight back against this national epidemic by adopting new robo-blocking solutions and urging their public officials to increase consumer protections.”

The FCC and companies specializing in robocalling prevention and data gathering offer the following tips to help consumers curtail unwanted calls. Don’t pick up calls from a number you don’t recognize. Let unidentified calls go into voicemail to determine the nature of the call. Invisibility is the best defense against robocallers. Fight back by downloading smart software solutions to block unwanted callers and scammers.

In addition to the above-mentioned statistics, YouMail published these numbers for June, 2017. Almost half — 48 percent of the 50 Most Robocalled Cities in America were based in the south, part of an ongoing pattern in which southerners continues bearing the largest robocalling brunt. Atlanta topped the national list for the 19th straight month, notching 113.6 million.

Texas received the most robocalls of any state for the 13th straight month, with 300.1 million last month. This marks just the second time that any state has recorded more than 300 million calls in a single month, after Texas received 307.4 million calls in the previous month of May, according to available data.

Outbound data for June

Continuing an ongoing trend, a large majority of the Top 20 robocalling numbers last month were made by debt collectors, including debts for credit card firms, banks, cable television companies and retailers. One national credit card company held onto the most active robocalling number in the country for the 22nd straight month, with more than 32.3 million calls placed in June alone. This single robocalling number has placed nearly 600 million calls over the past 22 months.

Alaska marked the biggest percentage increase in robocall production of any state for the third straight month, increasing 157 percent in June, followed by Rhode Island with a 68 percent increase, Mississippi which was up 62 percent, North Dakota up 56 percent and Hawaii with a 54 percent rise. Los Angeles retained the top spot as the city generating the most outbound robocalls, with 70.9 million calls placed in June.

As the calls continue to increase across the country, it’s becoming clear—based on reported data—that rural America is not safe. Anchorage made it to the “Big Five” in robocalls, up 156.9 percent over the previous month. Valparaiso, Indiana led the charge with a 378.7 percent increase; followed by Deerton, Michigan, up 369 percent; South Bend, Indiana with a 225 percent increase; and Danvers, Massachusetts, which was up 196.9 percent.

Contact reporter Chris Ford at 352-2270 or chris.ford@frontiersman.com