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COVID – 19 is Slowing Down Robocalls

At least one good piece of news coming our way. The government and phone service providers are doing their best to eradicate this form of phone harassment, but it seems that the virus is actually helping in the fight. Despite the fact that there are a lot of robocalls and scams emerging from the new health scare, the total number of robocalls is not as alarming as you might have thought.

And we have the numbers and the data to prove it.

The latest overview

Now, don’t be scare by the following percentage as we are about to break it down – according to YouMail robocall index 3 billion robocalls in May mark 3% monthly increase, however, if we break it down by days the numbers area a bit different.

So, in May 2020, Americans received just under 3.0 billion robocalls. At the first glance, it seems as a 3% increase from April. However, the number of calls per day in May was almost identical to the number of calls per day in April. Now, let’s be clear, that in no way is a small amount, it is still averaging just over 95 million calls per day, or roughly 1,104 calls per second. Breathe, especially if you take into consideration that this is an overall decrease in the numbers in comparison to previous years. So, what these numbers show is that the slight increase was simply due to one more day in the month of May versus April.

So, the happy news is that the calls are still 48% below the all-time monthly peak of 5.7 billion calls in October 2019.v This has a lot to do with the government phone service providers working hard on lowering the number of robocalls reaching you. But it is also due to a number of free apps offered by phone companies to help protect you from robocalls, and finally, we also need to tap ourselves in on the back for such a great number. We the customers are the ones reporting them, blocking them, and using reveres phone lookup searches to discover who is calling before answering the phone.

As long as everyone does their part, we will continue to see the decrease in the numbers.

Some of the latest measures taken to protect customers against robocalls

Late last year, President Trump signed the so-called TRACED Act, which should make it easier for consumers to identify robocalls so that they can avoid answering them. The idea behind it is quite simple, and the legislation requires telecom carriers to implement, at no extra charge, a number-authentication system to help consumers identify who’s calling. It also increases penalties for robocallers who flout the law.

The one thing lacking is the clarification on what constitutes consumer consent to receive the calls. What leads to such a law change is the fact that according to a nationally representative Consumer Reports survey - 70 percent of U.S. consumers say they won’t answer the phone if they don’t recognize the caller's number. Sixty-two percent say they let most calls go to voicemail. And that is a smart first step, the second is checking the number in your trusted reveres phone lookup search so that you can decide if it is someone you want to answer and call back, or if it is a robocall that you want to be blocked and that you will report. The knowledge and freedom of choice are what the consumers want.

According to Maureen Mahoney, policy analyst with Consumer Reports - “With this legislation, phone companies will be required to give all consumers meaningful new protections against these calls and Americans will finally get some relief from the ringing telephone."

In addition, there has been a ruling by the Supreme Court just a few weeks ago - judge Kavanagh stated the following - “We hold that the 2015 government-debt exception added an unconstitutional exception to the law.” “We cure that constitutional violation by invalidating the 2015 government-debt exception and severing it from the remainder of the statute.” In essence this means that robocalls with intent to sell you things or advertise cannot legally call you on your cellphone without your permission.

Little by little the landscape is changing for the better, and hopefully there will be a lot more protection for consumers and we will all sleep better without dreading the next call. Until then, here are some useful pieces of advice on how to protect yourself.

Some protection tips until we are completely rid of phone scams and robocalls

So yes, the good news is that COVID -19 has aided us in seeing a decrease in robocalls. They did use it to diversify their game. But now that we know their tactics it is easier to avoid them. Now that the government and phone companies are working hard to protect us, it is time for us to do our bit and ensure that bot we and our families are fully protected.

So here are some of the steps you can take. First and foremost- hang up- when you se an unknown phone number or a blocked phone number just hang up and input the number into your trusted reveres phone lookup search. Within moments you will get all the information you need on the caller and you can safely decide what you want to do next. In these situations, having the information is key to protecting yourself.

Second – if it is a blocked number calling you, you can use a code provided by your service provider for unblocking it so that you can again check who the caller is and decide if you want to answer, block or report them. Finally remember that whenever someone is asking for personal information or money via phone you need to hang up. Government agencies like the IRS and the FBI will never do that and as for your insurance company or preferred charity it is always smarter that you contact them directly rather than trusting a strange that is calling you on their behalf.

So, stay safe, don’t let robocalls distract you, protect yourself and your loved ones, but most of all do your part in suppressing this issue that is affection all of us. COVID -19 seemingly wants to help.