Here Are Colorado's Worst Robocallers

DENVER, CO – Robocalls are annoying. There’s nothing worse than seeing your phone buzz, picking up, and hearing a robotic voice on the other end try to dupe you into giving up your bank and credit card information. And with tax season coming up, Coloradans can expect even more.

A record 5.2 billion robocalls were placed last month, according to YouMail’s robocall index, and 58 percent of them were scam or telemarketing calls. That includes 75.5 million robocalls in Colorado. The average number of calls per person in Colorado last month was 13.5.

Here are the top 10 robocallers in Colorado last month:

1. 800-266-2278 Comcast Debt Collector
2. 254-249-1139 Killeen, TX, Onvoy, LLC TELEMARKETER
3. 877-647-8552 Wells Fargo Debt Collector
4. 720-330-2195 Denver, CO Bandwidth.com CLEC, LLC Prison Call Consent
5. 720-501-6291 Denver, CO Level 3 Communications Substitute Teacher Alert
6. 720-639-8087 Denver, CO Onvoy, LLC Unknown Robocaller
7. 800-955-6600 Capital One Payments/Collections Debt Collector
8. 303-700-5511 Denver, CO HVAC Scam
9. 303-238-5263 Peerless Network Arc Thrift Store
10. 720-423-3098 Denver, CO Qwest School Denv Pub Unknown Robocaller

1. Baton Rouge, LA — 58.4 robocalls per person
2. Washington, D.C. — 51.6 robocalls per person
3. Memphis, TN — 42.3 robocalls per person
4. Macon, GA — 37.4 robocalls per person
5. Lafayette, LA — 33.3 robocalls per person
6. Little Rock, AR — 33.3 robocalls per person
7. Birmingham, AL — 31.5 robocalls per person
8. Albany, GA — 31.5 robocalls per person
9. Las Vegas, NV — 31.2 robocalls per person
10. Shreveport, LA — 30.9 robocalls per person

YouMail says the nationwide rise coincides with a “search listing scam,” where robocallers dupe small business owners into giving up credit card information. The scammer promises to boost the business’ ranking in Google search listings.

And with more and more tax filers sending their returns to the IRS, don’t expect scam robocalls to decline anytime soon.

In fact, a new report from the data communication network company Transaction Network Services found that April 17, 2018 — Tax Day — saw more negative robocalls than any other day of the year. That month saw the highest volume of the year. The researchers noted that call spoofing — when scammers change their caller ID so they match your area code — remains the go-to tactic for bad actors. One in every 4,000 phone numbers was hijacked by a spoofer, the company found.

Bill Versen, chief product officer at the company, said consumers need to be “especially vigilant” as Tax Day approaches, and keep their guard up.

The FCC offers a few tips for those wanting to stop unwanted and illegal robocalls. Among them, don’t answer calls from unknown numbers, do not respond to questions — especially those that can be answered with “yes” — and never give out personal information such as account numbers, Social Security numbers and mother’s maiden names.

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Photo credit: Shutterstock

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