FTC: Spam Calls In US Drop To 50 Percent

Illustration of spam phone calls (photo: Doc. unsplash)

JAKARTA The US 2024 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released an annual report regarding spam calls. In the report, it was noted that the number of spam calls had dropped significantly.

Quoting from Gizmodo, the report explains that complaints related to unwanted phone calls or classified as spam have fallen by 50 percent in the US. This decline occurred within three years or since 2021.

The decrease in the number of spams seems to be influenced by Operation Stop Spam Calls launched last year. The Do Not Call program also has a major effect in reducing the number of unwanted calls of mobile phone users.

In 2021, 244 million users will register their numbers with Do Not Call. A year later, the number of registrants increased by two million. The number of registered numbers continues to grow to reach 253 million this year.

When registered on Do Not Call, telemarketer or employees who have to market goods and services via call are prohibited from calling the number owner. If the call continues to come in from the party claiming to be telemarketer, it is certain that the call is a fraud.

Although it does not reduce the number of frauds by telephone, this program has succeeded in helping its users identify fraudsters. This is one of the best ways to deal with online fraud because the second-largest spam complaint is about fraud.

In first place, spam that often attacks US residents is a medical problem and a prescription, while spam is third or after fraud is related to debt. To see the impact of the program, the FTC also shares the number of complaints per year.

In fiscal year 2024, complaints regarding automatic spam calls reached their lowest number with 1.1 million complaints. The total complaint is not much different from last year, namely 1.2 million complaints. When compared to 2021, the number seems to have decreased significantly because at that time the number of complaints reached 3.4 million.