The Top Robocaller In NYC Might Be A Surprise

NEW YORK, NY – New Yorkers’ phones are being buzzed with 5.7 million robocalls every day – but the biggest offender might be a surprise.

A comprehensive list of spam callers put together by the cloud-based telecommunication company YouMail shows that city dwellers received 175.8 million calls in the month of January. Only Atlanta and Dallas had more.

When users answered, the voice they heard on end of the line most belonged to somebody at the Department of Education, YouMail found. Communications about city schools resulted in the most calls, though the exact number wasn't reported. It should be noted, however, that users needed to have registered to receive the calls.

Here are the top 10 robocallers in New York City last month:

1. NYC Department of Education, 718-935-6740, School Announcement
2. Verizon Information Line, 888-423-0900, Customer Call
3. TV Provider Spam, 844-206-8573, Payment Reminder
4. Bill Me Later, 888-393-7162, Credit Card Debt Collector
5. Verizon, 866-803-4839, Customer Call
6. Time Warner Cable, 800-892-2253, TV Provider Spam
7. Capital One Payments/Collections, 800-955-6600, Debt Collector
8. Comenity Bank, 913-677-8324, Payment Reminder
9. Citibank, 866-532-0423, Bank Debt Collector
10. Fingerhut, 855-895-3382, Debt Collector

The calls in NYC were, at least, shared among a big population. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, people were hit by an average 58.4 robocalls per person last month. Here are the 10 cities receiving the most calls per person.

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

And the worst is yet to come. A report from the data communication network company Transaction Network Services found that last year April 17 — Tax Day — saw more negative robocalls than any other day of the year.

The FCC offers a few tips for those wanting to stop unwanted 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.

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