The summer of robocalls. Analysing over 1 million consumer complaints to the FTC

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Sept. 9, 2019 - PRLog -- "Reported.tel", a free online app, analyzed over one million FTC incidents during the summer of 2019 to understand which are the most affected states.

Every weekday, the Federal Trade Commission publishes a list of consumer complaints. The list includes the recorded phone number, city, state and type of call. Due to its purpose, the FTC can only track US-based phone numbers.

"Reported.tel" discovered, that between the 1st of June and 30th of August, the FTC registered 1,342,117 complaints related to unsolicited phone calls. Out of them, 745,217 are unique, but some toll-free numbers like (800) 275-2273 accrued over 3,000 complaints.

Living in Alaska, Indiana or North Dakota, makes taxpayers least likely to receive an unsolicited call.

The most affected Americans are those from Colorado, Nevada and Arizona, with almost double than average complaints per capita.

Robocalls are on the rise and accounted for 3 in 4 calls. Last year, in the same analyzed timeframe, they were at only 50%.

Toll-free numbers account for 23% of all complaints. They create a false sense of trust and consumers tend to be more likely to ring back.

Residents are most likely to receive a telemarketing call on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Impersonating government, businesses or even friends and family together with scams related to existing debt are the preferred type of pre-recoded messages. They account for half of all cases.

The most affected segment is small business owners for whom each missed call could be a potential customer.

While most people use summer to relax, telemarketing companies employ new tactics in scamming consumers. They figure out that while on holiday, individuals are prone to answer an unknown caller.

About "Reported.tel"

"Reported.tel"s mission is to offer everyone free and instant access to tools that allow screening of robocallers. It achieves this by combining data from FTC and FCC with hourly updates from thousands of users. Using "Reported.tel" is free for personal and commercial use.