Spam scam robocalls on the rise in US– what to know?


In the past year, there has been a significant increase in scam automated calls in the United States. In comparison to 2018, 2019 (according to the Bureau of Statistics), there is set to be an increase of 150%, at least, in robotised scam calls. This is a grave concern for millions of individuals who face the risk of getting robbed, scammed or lured into giving away sensitive personal information. What should you know about this?

The most common target areas

First of all, let’s talk numbers. There are around 5.6 billion robocalls per day. And that is in the US alone. Approximately 48 per cent of them are scam calls. However, a large portion of those 2.1 thousand robocalls per second is set to inform users about their personal interests, like school, healthcare, insurance, etc.

Nevertheless, at the same time, fraudsters use the methods of scam calls and target those delicate matters for their financial benefit. During the course of 2019, most common scams are:

How to know?

In all honesty, with so many robocalls being executed every day, it can be quite challenging to separate real from the fake. However, you can follow a few appropriate steps to prevent harm from being done and also help others.

The first step towards a safer interaction with robocalls is your own awareness. If you know that a fake automatized phone call might occur, sub-consciously you can be prepared for it. Second of all – negate the obvious. The robocall might ask to renew car insurance info, but you might not own a car at all, they could demand financial info from a bank where you have no accounts, etc.

The third and final preliminary action you can take is not acting upon the robocall. Before going with the requirements or complying with the request, take some time and contact the organisation or institution that the robocall was from. They will also provide you with the same information about debt, non-updated client information or whatever else that needs doing.

This way, you will be sure that the call is genuine and you can trust the robot voice behind it.

A bonus piece of advice – use reverse phone lookup online to know more about who is behind the call. If it is a scam, whocallingyou will likely have it listed.

What to do when a scam robocall occurs?

Even though carriers are doing a lot to enforce robocall scam prevention and the caller ID on your phone might also indicate a ‘Likely scam’ or something of that nature. This can help, but far from all scam threats are known by your carrier and are listed as such.

You have to sometimes take matters into your own hands and protect yourself from harm. If you happen to understand and differentiate robocalls, you are in great shape. Separating spam, fake and criminal and harmless calls can be a reassuring benefit. Spam calls are usually just advertisements. You can ignore them. Unless they become a huge pain and issue. Then try to contact your carrier.

With criminal robocalls, also contact your carrier or maybe even the police. If you see that reverse phone number search showed a lot of people describing the same issue, you can trust law enforcement to do their part.