According to a study by WhistleOut, a consumer comparison site for internet and mobile service providers, Floridians have received over 4.3 billion robocalls this year. That's 198 robocalls per person, the 10th highest in the country.
With Florida’s large population of retirement-age adults, it may not surprise people that the state is a target for scam callers. However, in another study by WhistleOut, millennials were the most susceptible to scam calls, with 80% providing personal information over the phone to someone they don't know. Baby boomers scored the least likely to provide personal information at 38%.
“Younger people are so used to giving their information out everywhere,” said Alex Quillici, CEO of YouMail, a company that helps users avoid scam calls. “We ran a similar survey and found that even though younger people are more likely to be scammed, they tend to lose less money on average—around $100—while boomers tend to lose much more.”
YouMail is a free app that millions of people use to prevent scam calls and text messages. A paid subscription also allows you to add a verification prompt for callers before they reach your inbox. The news paid feature even allows you to scan data brokers to have your personal information removed, like your phone number, address and family members.
Quillici recommends downloading YouMail or a similar app to help shield yourself from scams and urges users to approach unsolicited calls skeptically. “It’s rare that you need to answer a call from an unknown number. Let it go to voicemail,” he said.
The Federal Trade Commission’s National Do Not Call Registry is another free tool for U.S. citizens. Adding your number to the registry protects you from unwanted robocalls, surveys, and telemarketing at no cost. It also allows you to report violators of the rules, as contacting someone on the registry is illegal under telemarketing laws.
Ammy Archer, digital PR specialist at WhistleOut, also recommends using tools provided by your phone carrier to block scam calls. “Carriers often offer services that block scam calls, regardless of your plan or how much it costs,” she said.
Quillici explained that YouMail works with law enforcement, policymakers, and service carriers to help end scams at the source rather than just blocking them on individual phones.
“We collect data on scam calls, which helps us identify where the calls are coming from and which carrier is responsible. That allows the carrier to shut down the scammers at the source. If we notice a trend of scam calls coming from a specific area that is not being dealt with, our partner carriers can block all calls from that region or provider,” Quillici said.
The rise of artificial intelligence has further fueled this trend, making it easier for scammers to sift through data and target victims more effectively. AI-powered voice cloning allows scammers to create convincing calls by mimicking real voices or accents.
“Everyone has a voicemail greeting,” Quillici said. “With modern voice cloning it only takes three to 10 seconds of a sample to create a convincing voice… Not only do we see specific people impersonated and scammers calling family members on their contact list, but we also see it used just to emulate an accent within a region since people from the South will likely be more responsive to someone with a Southern accent, for example.”
For more information on the robocall epidemic, visit WhistleOut’s full report. To protect your phone number from unsolicited calls, visit the National Do Not Call Registry or consider third-party solutions like YouMail or Robokiller.