In 2021, Americans were the targets of 50.5 billion robocalls, which is around a 10% increase compared to the 45.9 billion robocalls received in 2020. On the plus side, the number of robocalls received in 2021 was 14% lower compared to 2019, when these calls reached over 58 billion. This data comes from YouMail, a free robocall blocking app.In December 2021, Americans received a little less than 3.6 billion robocalls. Last month, the average number of robocalls received per day was 115.1 million, a 13% decline from November’s average of 137.4 million calls per day. The 13% gap comes from a decrease in the received robocalls during the last weeks of December, which is most likely related to the holidays.
Here are the three cities that received the most robocalls in 2021:
- Atlanta, Georgia (143.7 million)
- Dallas, Texas (130.6 million)
- Chicago, Illinois (112.6 million)
Here are the three states with the most received robocalls per person in 2021:
- South Carolina (20.5/person)
- Tennessee (20.2/person)
- Louisiana (20.2/person)
Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail, said: “The good news is that monthly robocalls continue to be on a lower plateau since the STIR/SHAKEN rollout on June 30th. The bad news is that total robocalls still exceeded 50 billion for the year, which is roughly 200 robocalls this year for every adult with a phone.“STIR/SHAKEN are protocols and processes meant to fight caller ID spoofing, a method used by robocallers to conceal their identity and make the calls appear to be from a legitimate source.
YouMail is a free call protection app that blocks robocalls. YouMail stops robocallers by preventing the user’s phone from ringing and then playing an out-of-service message. This way, the robocallers will think that the dialed number is incorrect.
Bear in mind that YouMail assesses as a robocall not just scams and telemarketing, but also alerts, reminders, and payment reminders, so not all of the 50.5 billion calls from last year were malicious.
