Here's Who Keeps Robocalling Virginia

WASHINGTON, DC — If you think you're receiving robocalls now more than ever, you're not wrong.

Pre-recorded phone messages are being broadcast at record levels, according to the free robocall blocker YouMail. There were 3.36 billion robocalls last month in the U.S., 6.5 percent higher than the previous record and a whopping 34 percent higher than April 2017.

Virginia alone received an estimated 83 million robocalls last year, the company estimated. That's good for a ranking of 14th in the country.

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Here's how that breaks down for one of Virginia's most popular area codes.

• Area code: 571
  • Total robocalls: 8.8 million
  • Population affected: 370,000
  • Average calls per person: 23.7

Here are the top 10 robocallers last month for the 571 area code. Click on the number to hear a recording of a voicemail from the call.

With more than 384 million received robocalls, California earned the top spot for most robocalled state, followed by Texas with 363.3 million.

SEE ALSO: Patch Contest: Submit Your Best Photos From Around Virginia

Here are the states that received the most robocalls, as well as how many they received:

1. California, 384.4 million
2. Texas, 363.3 million
3. Florida, 261.1 million
4. Georgia, 213.6 million
5. New York, 207.8 million
6. Illinois, 134.6 million
7. Ohio, 115.8 million
8. Pennsylvania, 115.4 million
9. North Carolina, 111 million
10. Louisiana, 97.6 million
11. Michigan, 89.7 million
12. Tennessee, 88.3 million
13. New Jersey, 84.3 million
14. Virginia, 83 million
15. Maryland, 79 million
16. Alabama, 77.9 million
17. South Carolina, 64.4 million
18. Arizona, 60 million
19. Missouri, 51.7 million
20. Indiana, 51 million

Atlanta received the dubious honor of most robocalled city in America for the 29th straight month. People in that city received nearly 148 million robocalls last month and three Atlanta area codes cracked the top 20 most robocalled area code list.

Here are the top 10 most robocalled cities:

1. Atlanta, GA
2. Dallas, TX
3. New York, NY
4. Los Angeles, CA
5. Chicago, IL
6. Houston, TX
7. Baltimore, MD
8. Philadelphia, PA
9. San Francisco Bay Area, CA
10. Newark, NJ

The company says 47 of the 50 most robocalled cities in the country saw a higher robocalling volume in April. The increase comes even as lawmakers, consumer groups, telecommunications carriers and device makers pay closer attention to illegal calls.

"Despite the best efforts of regulators, industry groups, service providers, and app developers, we are warning consumers to remain vigilant by not picking up any calls from unfamiliar numbers, using robocall blocking apps, and researching numbers before calling them back," YouMail CEO Alex Quilici said in a release.

Click here and enter an area code to see the full results.

Patch reporter Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

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