WASHINGTON—Consumers report the most unwanted robocalls are from imposter government agencies or businesses, followed by calls about warranties and protection plans, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is reporting.
The FTC has released itsNational Do Not Call Registry Data Book for Fiscal Year 2021, which includes the most recent fiscal year information available on robocall complaints.
According to the Data Book, the number of consumer complaints about unwanted telemarketing calls increased from nearly four million in FY 2020 to more than five million in FY 2021. Of those complaints, 68% concerned robocalls and 22% were about live telemarketing.
In FY 2021, the Commission received 3.4 million complaints about robocalls, up from 2.8 million in FY 2020. The FY 2021 total is in line with previous years, following FY 2020’s significant decline. For every month in the fiscal year, robocalls—defined under FTC regulations as calls delivering a prerecorded message—made up the majority of consumer complaints about DNC violations, with the most -- 347,000 -- coming in March of this year, the FTC stated.
FY 2021 Data Highlights
Again this year, imposters were the topic of the robocalls consumers reported most often, with more than 496,000 complaints received. Warranties and protection plans comprised the second-most commonly reported topic, with consumers filing more than 412,000 robocall complaints. Calls about supposed debt-reduction made up the third-most commonly reported topic, followed by complaints about medical and prescription issues, and computers and technical support, the FTC said.
Registration and Complaint Data by State
With respect to state data, New Hampshire continues to top the nation in active DNC registrations per capita (94,642). The states reporting the most complaints per 100,000 population changed in FY 2021: the top five states were Maryland (2,028 per 100K population), Delaware (1,982 per 100K population), Arizona (1,945 per 100K population), Colorado (1,943 per 100K population), and Virginia (1,939 per 100K population).