Meet DC, Virginia’s Most Annoying Robocallers

WASHINGTON, DC — Few things are as irritating as seeing your phone buzz, picking it up and realizing it's a robocall, where someone is trying to trick you into giving up your bank and credit card information. With tax season coming up, you can expect even more of those calls to waste your time.

A record 5.2 billion robocalls were placed last month, according to YouMail's robocall index, and 58 percent of them were scam or telemarketing calls. That includes 134.6 million robocalls in Virginia, an average of 18 for every person in the Commonwealth; 29.2 million robocalls were made in the District of Columbia, an average of 51.6 for every person in the district.

Here are the top 20 robocallers in Virginia and Washington, D.C., last month, showing the number, place of origin if known, the carrier, the caller ID and the type of call. They include legitimate debt collectors, a mortgage company, and one school district, along with spammers.

These are Virginia's top callers:

1.
877-647-8552
Toll Free
Toll Free
Wells Fargo
Debt Collector
2.
800-955-6600
Toll Free
Toll Free
Capital One Payments/Collections
Debt Collector
3.
616-724-5001
Grand Rapids, MI
Sprint
Lil Baby
Unknown Robocaller
4.
800-942-3767
Toll Free
Toll Free
Substitute Teacher Notification
Employment Opportunity
5.
804-409-0809
Richmond, VA
Twilio
VA RICHMOND
Unknown Robocaller
6.
855-895-3382
Toll Free
Toll Free
Fingerhut
Debt Collector
7.
203-516-9724
New Haven, CT
Global Crossing Local Services, Inc.
Health Insurance Spam
Health Insurance Spam
8.
571-339-0612
Alexandria, VA
Ytel
VA SPRINGFIELD
Unknown Robocaller
9.
800-922-0204
Toll Free
Toll Free
Verizon
Customer Call
10.
804-708-7345
Richmond, VA
Onvoy, LLC
Unknown
Unknown Robocaller
11.
757-694-0526
Virginia Beach, VA
Onvoy, LLC
Medical Device Spam
Medical Device Spam
12.
800-678-7986
Toll Free
Toll Free
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
Loan Payment Reminder
13.
804-309-3424
Richmond, VA
365 Wireless, LLC
Payment Reminder
Payment Reminder
14.
866-247-1087
Toll Free
Toll Free
Encore Debt Collection
Debt Collector
15.
888-393-7162
Toll Free
Toll Free
Bill Me Later
Credit Card Debt Collector
16.
757-414-9758
Virginia Beach, VA
Twilio
HAVEN VA BELLE scammer
Unknown Robocaller
17.
888-423-0900
Toll Free
Toll Free
Verizon Information Line
Customer Call
18.
800-642-6323
Toll Free
Toll Free
CLC COLLECTIONS
Unknown Robocaller
19.
540-658-6000
Fredericksburg, VA
Verizon Wireless
(540) 658-6000
Unknown Robocaller
20.
703-255-8062
Alexandria, VA
Teleport Communications
Payment Reminder
Payment Reminder

Washington, D.C.'s top robocallers:

1.
877-403-2507
Toll Free
Toll Free
Substitute Teacher Alert
Substitute Teacher Alert
2.
888-209-4086
Toll Free
Toll Free
Payment Reminder
Payment Reminder
3.
877-647-8552
Toll Free
Toll Free
Wells Fargo
Debt Collector
4.
734-521-2063
Detroit, MI
Level 3 Communications
Credit Acceptance
Financial Customer Call
5.
800-955-6600
Toll Free
Toll Free
Capital One Payments/Collections
Debt Collector
6.
888-423-0900
Toll Free
Toll Free
Verizon Information Line
Customer Call
7.
443-602-8540
Baltimore, MD
Bandwidth.com CLEC, LLC
Spammer
Prison Call Consent
8.
800-947-5096
Toll Free
Toll Free
AT&T
Customer Call
9.
703-255-8062
Alexandria, VA
Teleport Communications
Payment Reminder
Payment Reminder
10.
866-456-0695
Toll Free
Toll Free
National Debt Relief
Credit Card Debt Collector
11.
202-715-6018
Washington, DC
MCI Metro ATS
+12027156018
Unknown Robocaller
12.
888-222-4227
Toll Free
Toll Free
Santander
Debt Collector
13.
800-678-7986
Toll Free
Toll Free
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
Loan Payment Reminder
14.
888-393-7162
Toll Free
Toll Free
Bill Me Later
Credit Card Debt Collector
15.
855-502-7867
Toll Free
Toll Free
Student Lunch Balance Alert
Student Absence Alert
16.
888-272-5543
Toll Free
Toll Free
Navient Student Loans
Student Loan Debt Collector
17.
800-816-5569
Toll Free
Toll Free
Debt Collector
Debt Collector
18.
866-458-7688
Toll Free
Toll Free
Payment Reminder
Bank Debt Collector
19.
425-276-8682
Seattle, WA
Onvoy, LLC
Receivables Performance Management
Debt Collector
20.
313-263-1173
Detroit, MI
Level 3 Communications
Debt Collector
Bank Debt Collector

YouMail's index showed that residents in Baton Rouge were bombarded with robocalls last month, ranking No. 1 in the country, with a staggering 58.4 robocalls per person. Washington, D.C. residents saw the second-highest number of calls, at 51.6. Here are the 10 cities receiving the most calls per person in January:

1. Baton Rouge, LA — 58.4 robocalls per person
2. Washington, D.C. — 51.6 robocalls per person
3. Memphis, TN — 42.3 robocalls per person
4. Macon, GA — 37.4 robocalls per person
5. Lafayette, LA — 33.3 robocalls per person
6. Little Rock, AR — 33.3 robocalls per person
7. Birmingham, AL — 31.5 robocalls per person
8. Albany, GA — 31.5 robocalls per person
9. Las Vegas, NV — 31.2 robocalls per person
10. Shreveport, LA — 30.9 robocalls per person

YouMail says the nationwide rise coincides with a "search listing scam," where robocallers dupe small business owners into giving up credit card information. The scammer promises to boost the business' ranking in Google search listings.

And with more and more tax filers sending their returns to the IRS, don't expect scam robocalls to decline anytime soon.

In fact, a new report from the data communication network company Transaction Network Services found that April 17, 2018 — Tax Day — saw more negative robocalls than any other day of the year. That month saw the highest volume of the year. The researchers noted that call spoofing — when scammers change their caller ID so they match your area code — remains the go-to tactic for bad actors. One in every 4,000 phone numbers was hijacked by a spoofer, the company found.

Bill Versen, chief product officer at the company, said consumers need to be "especially vigilant" as Tax Day approaches, and keep their guard up.

The FCC offers a few tips for those wanting to stop unwanted and illegal robocalls. Among them, don't answer calls from unknown numbers, do not respond to questions — especially those that can be answered with "yes" — and never give out personal information such as account numbers, Social Security numbers and mother's maiden names.

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Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Photo credit: Shutterstock