While Americans are talking on the phone less often, robots seem to be more interested in doing so. An analysis by spam protection app provider Hiya found that 26.3 billion calls were made by machines in the US in 2018 – and that most of these robots weren't doing anything good.
The company estimates that the number of robocalls increased by 46 percent compared to 2017. Given that there were 274 million mobile phone users in the US in 2018, robots called each mobile phone user an average of eight times per month. Robots were used to scam people with fake coupons or lottery winnings. Other phone users were charged fees for calling back foreign numbers.
According to Hiya, the largest segment of robot calls was simply annoying spam (32.1 percent), while actual fraudulent calls accounted for an estimated 25.5 percent of all robocalls. A further 24.7 percent of calls were made by telemarketing machines.
Texas was the state most targeted by robocalls in 2018, partly due to the fact that it was a common scam for the machines to call people and tell them they had won a free trip or something similar with the Dallas-based company Southwest Airlines.
While Americans talk on the phone less often, robots seem to be more keen to do so. An analysis by spam protection app provider Hiya has found that 26.3 billion calls were placed by machines in the US in 2018 – and that most robots were up to no good.
The company estimates that the number is an increase of 46 percent in robocalls over 2017. Considering that there were 274 million mobile phone plan subscribers in the US in 2018, robots called every mobile phone user an average of eight times a month. Robots were used to scam people with fake vouchers or lottery wins. Other phone users were charged when calling back to an overseas number.
The biggest segment of calls made by robots were just annoying spam (32.1 percent), according to Hiya. Cases of actual fraud amounted up to an estimated 25.5 percent of all robocalls made. Another 24.7 percent of calls were placed by telemarketer machines.
Texas was the state most heavily targeted by robocalls in 2018, in part due to the fact that a popular scam had machines call people and tell them they won a free trip or the like with Dallas-based company Southwest Airlines.
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