Robocalls

During May, 2019 robocallers rang Americans' smartphones an estimated 4.7 billion times, according to YouMail, a company that makes an app that helps users block suspected spam calls. That is nearly double the amount from two years ago, reflecting the extent to which fraudsters have outwitted carriers such as AT&T and Verizon, lawmakers on Capitol Hill and the government's chief robocall cops, including the Federal Communications Commission.

At Tufts Medical Center, administrators registered more than 4,500 robocalls between about 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. on April 30, 2018.

Testifying in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, it stressed robocalls represent a "serious threat" to the Tampa-based facility, which serves more than 60,000 patients each year. Over a 90-day period, robocallers rang more than 6,600 times using numbers that mimicked its own, which it estimated had consumed 65 hours of hospital response time. That came in addition to about 300 robocalls that appeared to be coming from numbers affiliated with the U.S. Department of Justice. Callers sought to swindle physicians into surrendering critical information that might make it easier for scammers to obtain prescription drugs fraudulently.

Robocall Popular Area Codes

The list from the app HIYA shows popular area codes and number of unwanted calls. Looks like Texas is popular.


area code, area code region, estimated unwanted calls
214 Dallas, TX 210,590,643
817 Fort worth, TX 177,353,949
210 San Antonio, TX 167,494,351
512 Austin, TX 141,493,980
832 Houston, TX 125,617,537
404 Atlanta, GA 104,613,003
205 AL 98,239,446