Car Warranty Scam Robocalls Up Nearly 50% in March Over Prior Month

Tony Russell • Scams, Warranty Scams • April 9, 2020

Warranty robocalls hit 157 million according to YouMail Robocall Index

Americans received just under 4.1 billion robocalls in March, a 15.7% decline from February. The month of March averaged over 132 million calls per day, or roughly 1,533 calls per second, a whopping 20% decline from the 166 million robocalls per day in January. March robocalls were 28% lower than last October's monthly peak of 5.7 billion calls.

These latest monthly figures come from YouMail, a totally free robocall blocking app for mobile phones.

"While March's decline provides welcome relief to beleaguered consumers, it's unlikely to last given the decline appears to be driven by the impact of COVID-19 social distancing restrictions on call centers," said YouMail CEO Alex Quilici. "It's a shame it has taken a global pandemic to make a real dent in the robocall epidemic."

March saw a big increase in Medical Scams, Car Warranty Scams, and Search Listing Scams, while seeing a big decrease in Government Imposter Scams and Interest Rate Scams

March Decrease Was Primarily Due to Reduced Payment Reminders and Scams

March saw payment reminders decrease by 31% and spam calls decrease by 17%, both most likely due to the unavailability of call centers to handle people who return calls or "press 1" when called. Telemarketing calls and alerts and reminders were both relatively flat.

Top Illegal Robocalls in March 2020

March saw a big increase in Medical Scams, Car Warranty Scams, and Search Listing Scams, while seeing a big decrease in Government Imposter Scams and Interest Rate Scams – many of which are known to originate outside the US in terms of types and volumes. Overall, there were six types of scams that made at least 100 million calls in the month.