FTC Says Spam Calls Actually Down 50% in Recent Years
The number of complaints about unwanted telemarketing calls in the U.S. has dropped a whopping 50% since 2021, according to the FTC’s annual report on spam calls released Friday. The federal agency launched Operation Stop Spam Calls in 2023, one of many efforts credited with helping cut back on the number of annoying calls Americans get from telemarketers.
The most common complaint about spam calls to the FTC over the past year was regarding medical and prescription issues, with imposters being the second most common, and reducing debt the third. The other categories rounding out the list include energy, solar, and utilities as well as home improvement and cleaning complaints.
Some of the spam complaints were regarding live callers, but the majority were so-called robocalls. In fiscal year 2024, which ended Sept. 30, the FTC received 1.1 million complaints about robocalls, down from 1.2 million in 2023, and over 3.4 million in 2021.
There are over 253 million people registered on the Do Not Call list right now. In 2023 that number was 249 million, 246 million in 2022, and 244 million on the list in 2021. Americans can put their number on the Do Not Call registry by visiting donotcall.gov or by calling the toll‐free number 888‐382‐1222. Calling that number should be done from the phone you want to register.
