Unwanted robocalls related to debt collection ranked fifth among different calling categories detailing the types of robocalls received by individuals with a cell phone in 2018, according to data released by Hiya, a company that provides call blocking applications.
Debt collection robocalls accounted for only one out of every 50 robocalls placed in 2018, ranking behind General Spam (32.1%), Fraud (25.5%), Telemarketer (24.7%), and Robocaller (10.6%). Hiya also tracked the number of robocalls related to IRS Scams (1.9%), and Extortion (1.1%).
Individuals with cell phones in the United States received an estimated 26.3 billion robocalls, or 10 robocalls per cell phone number per month, according to Hiya, which extrapolated the total number of calls detected among its users to the total mobile phone subscriber base in the United States. That figure is up 46% from 2017.
Individuals in Texas were the most likely to receive a spam robocall in 2018, according to Hiya, with the 214, 817, 210, 512, and 832 area codes ranking one through five. Two other Texas area codes — 281 and 903 — also placed in the top 10.
Robocalls have made individuals with cell phones so paranoid that we are only answering our cell phones 52% of the time, according to Hiya. Hiya also provided some interesting statistics related to call duration and the types of calls that individuals usually answer. The long-and-short of it, from a collection agency’s perspective, is the more easily that an individual recognizes a phone number, the more likely he or she is to answer the call and the longer he or she is likely to stay on the phone.
