Robocalls Plagued New Yorkers 175M Times In October, Records Show

NEW YORK CITY — The robots must really like us – they called New York City more than 175 million times last month, data show.

New York City saw a 30 million spike in the number of robocalls in October 2019, up from the 145.6 million average it sustained from May through September, according to data compiled by YouMail which provides a robocall-blocking service.

New York City has gotten more than 1.5 billion robocalls in 2019, the third-highest number among U.S. cities, data show. Those account for more than half the roughly 2.9 billion calls recorded across the state this year.

Only Atlanta and Dallas are in worse shape with about 1.94 billion and 1.85 billion calls so far this year, respectively, YouMail's Robocall Index shows.

Pesky spam calls have become an increasingly common nuisance across New York in recent years. More than 3 billion robocalls rang phones across the Empire State in 2018, up from just 1.56 billion in 2016, the index shows.

The growing scourge of robocalls has led state legislators to draft the Robocall Prevention Act, a bill that would make it illegal to robocall any New Yorker without permission, barring emergencies.

Immigrants, seniors and others are especially vulnerable to scam robocalls, which cause consumers to lose an estimated $9 billion each year, according to Chuck Bell, the programs director for Consumer Reports.

All 50 state attorneys general — including New York AG Letitia James — reached a deal last month with 12 phone companies who agreed to work against illegal robocalls and help prosecutors target the perpetrators.

Noah Manskar contributed to this report.