Consumers lost $319 million to COVID-19 related fraudīased on recent trends, RoboKiller expects scammers will design smarter, more believable phone scams as they attempt to recover financial losses from 2020.27% of fraud reporters said they were contacted via text.31% of fraud reporters said they were contacted via phone call.In 2020, 31% of consumers reporting fraud noted they were contacted via phone call, and 27% reported they were contacted via text. The shift could be explained by the events of 2020 that caused more Americans to rely on unemployment, stimulus payments, and other government programs.ĥ4 BILLION SPAM CALLS, $3.3 BILLION IN CONSUMER LOSSESĭespite low spam call volume in the first half of the year, consumers still suffered severe financial losses. Social Security topped scam categories in 2020 at 14% replacing 2019’s top category of Credit Card Offers. Other states like Arizona saw a 27% yearly increase in spam calls, while Louisiana received less robocalls in 2020 at 827 million. The top state targeted by scammers was Texas, with 6.3 billion spam calls – a 6% increase from 2019. RoboKiller anticipates this number will grow in 2021. Between October and December, Americans received an average of 5.8 billion spam calls a month – a 17% increase from July – September. Spam call volume remained at a normal level post the end of summer rebound.Americans received an estimated 16 billion political text messages in 2020 – 9.8 billion were Republican-related, and 4.6 billion were Democrat-related.

In total, Americans lost $319 million to COVID-19 related fraud over the last 12 months, according to the FTC.However, by September 2020, spam calls were back to their normal levels of 5 billion robocalls per month. The COVID-19 global pandemic led to a 50% decline in spam calls from April to June 2020.However, spam call volumes returned to normal levels exiting the year. Spam texting is now on a dramatic rise, with total scam texts of 55.4 billion exceeding the total number of spam calls in 2020. Global quarantine orders early in the year helped drive 6.7 billion fewer spam calls in 2020 versus 2019, but scammers were quick to adapt. 2020 was a unique and challenging year for everyone, scammers included. 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - RoboKiller, the app that eliminates 99% of spam calls and text messages, released today their annual Robocall Report revealing the key spam call and text trends of the past year.

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