SC among top targets for robocalls and this city gets hit the worst. Here’s how to avoid them
South Carolina gets hit with more robocalls per capita than most other states, a new report shows.
You’d be hard-pressed to find somebody who hasn’t received an annoying robocall. Be it from a politician, a telemarketer or a scammer, such automated calls have been ubiquitous for years.
In February, South Carolina received 102,243,300 robocalls and 210,651,600 robocalls since the start of 2023, according to a new report from YouMail, a company that offers visual voicemail and robocall blocking software. YouMail used its free app to collect data from robocall traffic trying to get through to the company’s millions of active users.
South Carolina also received more than 1.169 billion robocalls in 2022.
The report shows that South Carolina is among the top three states that receives the most robocalls based on population, with 25.5 calls per person. The other two states were Alabama at 23.2 calls per person and Louisiana at 27.2 calls per person.
Charleston is the South Carolina city targeted hardest at 28.5 calls per person, the data shows.
Here are the top 10 U.S. cities that receive the most robocalls per person.
Baton Rouge, LA: 45 calls per person
Memphis, TN: 39.5 calls per person
Washington, D.C.: 32.8 calls per person
Little Rock, AR: 32.4 calls per person
Macon, GA: 31.6 calls per person
Birmingham, AL: 31 calls per person
Albany, GA, 30.7 calls per person
Lafayette, LA: calls per person
San Antonio, TX: 30 calls per person
Charleston, SC: 28.5 calls per person
Overall, U.S. consumers received more than 4.3 billion robocalls in February — a similar amount compared to the 4.2 billion and 4.7 billion calls per month Americans have seen since August. Over the past 12 months, Americans have received 51.5 billion robocalls.
The most unwanted robocall campaign for February isa telemarketing scam that appears to be selling low-cost health insurance, YouMail states. Here are the four top types of robocalls Americans received in February.
Notifications: 1.41 billion
Payment reminders: 1.05 billion
Telemarketing: 1.22 billion
Scams: 0.64 billion
Unwanted calls are the top consumer complaint, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Also, the FTC regularly issues hundreds of millions of dollars in enforcement actions against illegal robocallers. Below are some tips from the FTC to help Americans stop robocalls and avoid scams.
Don’t answer calls from unknown numbers. If you answer such a call, hang up immediately.
Do not respond to any questions, especially those that can be answered with “Yes.”
You may not be able to tell right away if an incoming call is spoofed. Caller ID showing a “local” number does not necessarily mean it is a local caller.
If you answer the phone and the caller — or a recording — asks you to hit a button to stop getting the calls, you should just hang up. Scammers often use this trick to identify potential targets.
If you get an inquiry from someone who says they represent a company or a government agency, hang up and call the phone number on your account statement, in the phone book, or on the company’s or government agency’s website to verify the authenticity of the request. You will usually get a written statement in the mail before you get a phone call from a legitimate source, particularly if the caller is asking for a payment.
Never give out personal information such as account numbers, Social Security numbers, mother’s maiden names, passwords or other identifying information in response to unexpected calls or if you are at all suspicious.
Use caution if you are being pressured for information immediately.
If you have a voicemail account with your phone service, set a password for it. Some voicemail services are preset to allow access if you call in from your own phone number. A hacker could spoof your home phone number and gain access to your voicemail if you do not set a password.
Talk to your phone company about call blocking tools they may have and check into apps that you can download to your mobile device to block unwanted calls.
If you use robocall-blocking technology already, it often helps to let that company know which numbers are producing unwanted calls so they can help block those calls for you and others.
To block telemarketing calls, register your number on the Do Not Call List. Legitimate telemarketers consult the list to avoid calling both landline and wireless phone numbers on the list.
