NEW YORK, July 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- RoboKiller, the app
that eliminates 99% of spam calls and text messages, reveals
Americans received an
estimated 5.9 billion spam calls in
June 2021- an 11% increase from
May. Spam text volume stayed relatively flat in June at 7.1 billion
spam texts - a 1% increase from May. June's growth in total spam
calls is the largest monthly increase since March 2021, which had a 16% increase from
April.
Spam Call Resurgence Reflects Scammers' Final Push Before New
Anti-Spoofing Framework STIR/SHAKEN
Monthly spam call increases for June are likely driven by the
FCC's enforcement of STIR/SHAKEN on June 30th, 2021. STIR/SHAKEN (Secure Telephone
Identity Revisited (STIR) and Signature-based Handling of Asserted
Information Using toKENs (SHAKEN) standards) is a new
technological framework designed to reduce the use of illegal
caller ID spoofing on all voice networks in the United States by validating the caller ID
of a phone call while the call is being placed. The TRACED ACT,
signed into law in 2019, mandated that all voice networks adopt the
STIR/SHAKEN framework or a robocall mitigation plan by June 2021 as the first step forward in a unified
solution to caller ID spoofing.
As previously reported by RoboKiller, the new STIR/SHAKEN
framework has been driving abnormal robocall trends in the months
leading up to the FCC deadline. This is because some large carriers
released their STIR/SHAKEN solutions early and scammers have been
working to find new technological loopholes around them. As a
result, RoboKiller predicts Americans will experience as much as a
5-10% decrease in total spam calls for the months of July and
possibly August 2021, but a rebound
later in the year as scammers adapt and find new approaches.
Flat Spam Text Trends from May to June Show Scammers Are
Keeping Spam Texts In Their Back Pocket
The slowdown in spam text growth from May to June 2021 likely indicates that scammers are more
focused on establishing technological workarounds to the
STIR/SHAKEN framework for robocalling rather than completely
pivoting to spam texts following the June
30th deadline.
However, this doesn't mean Americans should count spam texts
out. RoboKiller predicts a 5% increase in spam texts for the month
of July as more scammers look to offset losses on robocalls and
attempt new approaches to steal from Americans over the phone. This
means Americans are on track to receive more than 86 billion spam
texts in 2021, a 55% increase from 2020.
Scammers Continue to Craft More Relevant Phone Scams To
Increase Their Earnings
As the landscape becomes more complicated for robocallers to
place thousands of illegal calls a day, many scammers are adjusting
their approach to focus on quality over quantity. Scammers do this
by tailoring their scams to relevant societal events in
the United States to be more
believable to the target.
For example, student loan robocall scams have increased by more
than 30% in the past 3 months. This is likely due to recent media
coverage on student loan debt legislation, as well as COVID relief
programs for student loan forgiveness coming to an end in the
coming months.
Bank text scams have also emerged as a new threat to consumers,
now representing more than 3% of the more than 7 billion spam texts
received by Americans each month. As economic anxiety continues,
scammers understand this means people are checking their bank
accounts more often and therefore have a higher likelihood victims
will fall for a scam.
JUNE 2021 KEY PHONE SCAM
TRENDS
Top Five Most Spam-Called States:
State
|
Total Estimated
Spam Calls
|
Estimated Spam
Calls Per Person
|
Texas
|
612,227,724
|
26
|
California
|
493,695,279
|
15
|
Florida
|
352,932,701
|
20
|
New
York
|
231,851,713
|
14
|
Ohio
|
217,541,347
|
22
|
Top Phone Scams Nationwide:
Robocall Scam
Category
|
Estimated Spam
Calls
|
% of Total
Robocalls
|
Link to Audio
Examples
|
Vehicle
Warranty
|
1,181,146,700
|
19.8%
|
Listen to Scam
Recording
|
Health
Insurance
|
567,331,816
|
9.5%
|
Listen to Scam
Recording
|
Student
Loans
|
446,952,586
|
7.5%
|
Listen to Scam
Recording
|
*All audio examples are phone scams blocked and audio
fingerprinted by RoboKiller
Top Five Most Spam-Texted States:
State
|
Total Estimated Spam
Text Messages
|
Estimated Spam Texts
Per Person
|
Texas
|
819,069,100
|
34
|
New
York
|
715,293,968
|
43
|
California
|
648,870,447
|
20
|
Florida
|
361,175,128
|
21
|
Ohio
|
344,988,362
|
35
|
Top Text Scams Nationwide:
Spam Text
Category
|
Estimated Spam
Texts
|
% of Total Spam
Texts
|
Amazon, UPS, &
Other Delivery Scams
|
1,692,726,647
|
23.5%
|
Bank Scams
|
220,319,753
|
3.1%
|
Apple + Device
Sweepstakes
|
200,082,059
|
2.8%
|
Tips On How To Stop Phone Scams:
- Don't answer phone calls from unknown phone numbers, especially
those that call or text 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.
- 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 scams to prevent scammers from
reaching you in the first place.
Any brand interested in protecting themselves against scams
perpetrated under their name can contact our enterprise services
team for more information.
RoboKiller's Data Insights
These national robocall and
spam text insights are provided by RoboKiller, the only app
that helps eliminate 99% of spam calls in the United States. RoboKiller's Robocall
Insights is powered by its global database of millions of known
phone scams and audio fingerprints. This data is estimated by
monitoring observed robocall and spam text trends for Americans who
have trusted RoboKiller to stop their spam calls and has been
featured by major media publications since its release in
2018.
For a comprehensive analysis of robocall trends in specific
cities, states, and area codes, details on particular phone scams,
or any other related custom inquiries, please contact RoboKiller's
robocall insights team here or at pr@robokiller.com.
With more than 12 million downloads to date, RoboKiller has been
named a leader in technical and mobile achievement by the Webby
Awards, Media Excellence, Best in Biz, and more. RoboKiller was
also named the most effective solution to robocalls by the
FTC as the winner of the most recent Robocalls: Humanity
Strikes Back competition. 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 the leading
independent spam call blocker in the
United States. RoboKiller's predictive spam call blocking
technology uses A.I. and machine-learning to intercept an incoming
spam call in less than 0.01 second. RoboKiller then deploys its
army of spam-call-fighting Answer Bots to waste scammers' time and
resources, preventing them from placing thousands of spam calls
each minute. Since its launch in 2017, RoboKiller has helped more
than 10 million Americans prevent approximately $140M losses to phone scams and live their lives
spam-call-freeā¢. RoboKiller, a Teltech brand, is a division of
Mosaic Group, an IAC Company (NASDAQ: IAC).
Media Contacts:
Zapwater Communications
Teltech@zapwater.com
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SOURCE RoboKiller