Nearly 3 million additional people added their phone numbers to the national Do Not Call registry during the 2021 fiscal year, which ended September 30, according to data released by the Federal Trade Commission just before Thanksgiving last week, bringing the total number of actively registered numbers on the list to more than 244 million.
Reducing debt was the third-most complained-about robocall topic made by consumers, behind imposters and robocalls selling warranties and protection plans. In total, there were more than 5 million complaints filed during the 2021 fiscal year, up from 4 million a year earlier.
The report also looks at state-by-state data on the number of individuals who added their phone numbers to the Do Not Call registry and the complaints related to robocalls that were filed by consumers with the FTC. On a per-capita basis, New Hampshire has more individuals who have registered their phone numbers for the Do Not Call list, followed by other New England states — Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine. Mississippi, Texas, and Alaska were the states with the lowest per-capita number of registrations.
When it comes to complaints, though, nobody was more active that Marylanders, followed by Delaware and Arizona. Mississippi, Louisiana, and North Dakota were the states with the fewest number of complaints.
After a dropoff in 2020, perhaps tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, robocalls were on the rise again in 2021, according to the FTC.
Interestingly enough, the number of organizations that accessed the Do Not Call registry declined for the fourth straight year, indicating that fewer entities are checking the registry prior to making telemarketing calls.
