ORLANDO, Fla. – Orlando’s 407 area code has become one of the most targeted connections to unwanted robocalls in the U.S., according to new data collected by the YouMail Robocall Index.
The index, a “compilation of the scope and location” of the worst robocall hotspots
across the country, found Orlando area residents received 27.5 million calls last month, making it the 15th most “robocalled” in the country.
The March tracking also found 29 million outbound robocalls linked to a 407 exchange.
News 6 found 30 variations of outbound robocall messages all using the 407 exchange to pitch products that ranged from free home security systems, student loan forgiveness deals and vacations to the Bahamas.
Although the FCC and FTC are trying to stop robocalls by fining the worst offenders, the problem appears to be getting worse.
The national numbers hit near-epidemic levels with an estimated 3.15 billion robocalls made in March, increasing 15 percent over February, and 29 percent over March of last year.
A common scam peddled by robocallers going into April is the interest rate scam, which falsely offers lowered credit card interest rates. Cash-strapped consumers may fall for the deception.
YouMail CEO Alex Quilici said the robocall trends are not going away.
“The problem is economics,” Quilici said. "It’s become very cheap to make lots of calls and so people do it.”
Quilici said consumers and businesspeople should not answer any calls they get from unfamiliar numbers.
Quilici’s Youmail system actually blocks calls by sending an out of service signal. Once callers get that signal, the calls from that source stops.
Officials said 100 percent of the 50 most robocalled cities in America experienced month-to-month increases in robocall volumes for March.
“I don’t know if it’s going to be April that’s going to be higher than March or May, but we’re going to see more robocalls and more robocalls made per second before we see a trend downward to fewer and fewer,” Quilici said.
YouMail also provides data on problematic phone number behavior, through a reverse phone lookup service that allows anyone to identify and comment on suspicious numbers.
You can listen to the spam calls here.
For more information about the YouMail system, click here.