More than 3 billion robocalls were placed last month alone, which is a record number and up from a record number in February. YouMail CEO Alex Quilici said that's 1,000 calls every second of every day of the month.
Unsolicited, non-emergency robocalls to wireless phones are illegal.
The Better Business Bureau states the federal Telemarketing Sales Rule prohibits recorded sales messages unless you have given written permission for the caller to contact you, regardless of whether or not your number is on the Do Not Call registry.
The National Do Not Call Registry is for real-life legitimate businesses. It doesn't stop political or non-profit calls. You also might be to blame if you've ever given consent when applying for mortgage, car loan or credit cards.
Quilici said cheap and easy robocalls are just bad guys dialing for dollars, like scammers phish on e-mail.
“The problem is all the people who are calling without consent and who don’t care. So, if you’re an overseas criminal with an auto-dialer and access to a call center, you’re going to just go crazy and not worry about it,” said Quilici.
Robocalling is profitable with the fraud raking in nearly $10 billion every year.
“By carefully not answering unknown callers, getting an app on your phone to help protect you and doing your homework before you call back, you can really mitigate the impact of robocalling.”
Tips:
1. Don't answer the phone from unknown callers
2. Get an app to stop calls. Nomorobo, Truecaller, Hiya, RoboKiller and YouMail. All major carriers have apps to help protect against robocalls: AT&T Protect app, Verizon free caller name ID, T-Mobile Scam Block and Sprint Premium Caller ID.
3. Don't automatically call the number back, do research and find out quickly online if it belongs to a legitimate business, or not.
4. Some smartphones (Samsung S7, Google Pixle) have technology built in against robocalls, but you must activate SmartCall.