Here Are New York’s Most Prolific Robocallers

Robocalls are annoying. There’s nothing worse than seeing your phone buzz, picking up and hearing a robotic voice on the other end try to dupe you into giving up your bank and credit card information. And with tax season coming up, New York can expect even more.

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 319.1 million robocalls in New York.

Here are the top 10 robocallers in New York from last month:

1. 718-935-6740 NYC Department of Education: School Announcement
2. 800-892-2253 Time Warner Cable: TV Provider Spam
3. 888-423-0900 Verizon Information Line: Customer Call
4. 800-955-6600 Capital One Payments/Collections: Debt Collector
5. 585-902-3207 IC Solutions: Prison Call Consent
6. 844-206-8573 Spectrum: TV Provider Spam
7. 716-898-3000 COUNTY MED ERIE: Unknown Robocaller
8. 888-393-7162 Bill Me Later: Credit Card Debt Collector
9. 913-677-8324 Comenity Bank: Payment Reminder
10. 866-803-4839 Verizon: Customer Call

To check the calls that come to your city, click here.

The index showed that residents in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, were bombarded with robocalls last month, ranking No. 1 in the country at 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.

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.

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Image via Shutterstock.