Robocall Resurgence: Spam calls increase by 10% in February 2021

Scammers are back with a vengeance after a slow 2020 with spam calls reaching 5.6 billion

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Mar 09, 2021, 08:37 ET

NEW YORK, March 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- RoboKiller, the app that eliminates 99% of spam calls and text messages, reveals 5.6 billion spam calls were received by Americans during February 2021, a 10% increase in robocalls from January 2021 and a 26% increase compared to February 2020.

Phone scammers are back with a vengeance after 2020 crippled their ability to place billions of spam calls - severely impacting their overall financial earnings. According to RoboKiller, 2020 saw a 6.7 billion drop in spam calls from 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but since September 2020, spam calls have returned to normal levels of 5 billion spam calls or more a month. A whopping 5.8 billion spam texts in February 2021 also indicate phone scammers are adopting new methods of reaching Americans' phones - and aren't slowing down there either.

KEY FINDINGS IN FEBRUARY 2021

Top Phone Scams:

In February, the top robocall scam was vehicle warranty-related at 23% of total spam calls - a 9% increase from January 2021, followed by health insurance-related calls at 9% and vacation-related scams at 6.5%.

Top Five Most Spam-Called States:

State	Total Estimated Spam Calls	Estimated Spam Calls Per Person
Texas	659,217,366	27.56
Georgia	235,602,415	26.88
Ohio	261,173,839	26.81
North Carolina	205,934,233	23.80
Florida	397,214,426	22.38

Robocalls New Partner In Crime: Spam Text Messages

Since January of last year, Americans have been receiving on average 5 billion spam texts per month. In recent months, there has been a steady 15% increase in spam text volumes, reaching all-time highs of 5.8 billion a month as of February 2021. That is roughly 21 spam texts per person!

Top Five Most Spam-Texted States:

State	Total Estimated Spam Text Messages	Estimated Spam Texts Per Person
Alaska	68,369,248	114.96
Maine	49,550,830	44.42
New York	677,968,043	41.63
Nevada	100,956,813	39.97
West Virginia	54,437,914	36.17

What's in store for 2021?

While it's still early in the year, RoboKiller predicts that spam calls could reach 70 billion by the end of 2021 and result in higher consumer losses to fraud. As noted in the 2020 Insights Report, RoboKiller predicts spam texts will become more prevalent and have the potential to reach 90 billion by the end of the year.

Tips on how to stop phone scams:

Don't answer phone calls from unknown phone numbers, especially those that call at odd hours.
Never provide personal, banking, or sensitive information over the phone to any caller.
Don't follow any prompts like "Press 1" or click any links.
Watch out for text messages that contain misspelled words, URLs that contain a mix of numbers and letters.
Download a spam call and text blocker like RoboKiller to equip your phone with the latest phone-scam-fighting technology. Apps like RoboKiller use global databases of millions of known phone scams to prevent these callers from reaching you in the first place.

RoboKiller continues to advocate against phone fraud, help shut down scam operations, and invest heavily in spam text and spam call blocking technology to stop dangerous scams from reaching consumers. In 2020, RoboKiller won a Webby Award for Technical Achievement, Media Excellence Award for Best Mobile Product, and Best in Biz Awards for App of the Year, Most Innovative Product of the Year, and Consumer Product of the Year.

RoboKiller is available for download on the Apple App Store and Google Play. To learn more about RoboKiller, visit www.robokiller.com.

About RoboKiller:
RoboKiller is one of the top iPhone utility apps in the US, helping users block over 500M telemarketers and robocalls from calling their phones. With over 5 billion robocalls made to US consumers each month, phone spam continues to be the #1 complaint to the FCC, driving hundreds of thousands of RoboKiller app downloads per month. RoboKiller, a Teltech brand, is a division of Mosaic Group, an IAC Company (NASDAQ: IAC).

SOURCE RoboKiller