Mid-Year Report Reveals Americans are on Track to Receive 233 Billion Robotexts and Robocalls in 2022

RoboKiller, the app that eliminates 99% of spam calls and robotexts, released findings from its 2022 Mid-Year Phone Scam Report. The report reveals Americans are on track to receive an estimated 147 billion robotexts and 86 billion robocalls by year’s end, which would shatter 2021’s yearly totals by 68% and 19%, respectively. Additionally, Americans are due to lose $87 billion to phone scams, a 116% increase from 2021.

Move over robocalls, robotexts are surging
According to RoboKiller’s sister app, TextKiller, robotexts have been the primary way scammers reach Americans since early 2021. What’s caused scammers to redirect their focus to robotexting? For one, in June 2021, STIR/SHAKEN was unveiled, which caused scammers to shift to a medium with fewer roadblocks. And it’s working. To date, in 2022, Americans have been hit with 66 billion robotexts resulting in estimated financial losses of $9.7 billion.

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Robocalls and Robotexts: Key Findings & Takeaways in 2022

• Robotexts are on pace to exceed robocalls in volume for the third year in a row, and the gap is widening. Americans are also losing $1,000 on average to robotexts compared to $900 just a year ago.
• On the flip side, car warranty calls have dipped 37% since the FCC announced it was cracking down on these robocalls. The FCC’s efforts underscore the fact it’s possible to fight back against robocalls. With a unified effort among governing bodies, third-party apps like RoboKiller, and carriers, it’s not out of the question to one day eliminate these unwanted calls.
• Brand imposter scams have biome the primary way scammers are reaching Americans via robotext. Scammers impersonating Amazon, Google, Apple, and Target were among the top brands scammers impersonated so far in 2022.
• As of June 2022, all carriers, large and small, should be compliant with STIR/SHAKEN. RoboKiller believes that this effort will start to curb caller ID spoofing. While Americans shouldn’t expect robocalls to immediately become a thing of the past, they can anticipate seeing fewer spoofed spam calls.

Robocalls are not a thing of the past, yet
Even with STIR/SHAKEN and other government efforts in full effect, Americans are still expected to receive 86 billion spam calls in 2022, and the financial impact is dire: Americans are on pace to lose upwards of $59 billion. As government efforts expand and carrier restrictions tighten, RoboKiller believes Americans could start to see a dip in the amount of robocalls they receive.

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