The FTC says reports of spam calls are down 50% since 2021

The Federal Trade Commission says reports of spam calls have dropped by 50% since 2021. The agency’s annual Do Not Call Registry breaks down complaints submitted by the public to the FTC’s spam-call-reporting service.

The FTC has been releasing data on spam calls for 16 years and its database now contains more than 253 million phone numbers reported by the public. The good news is that reports of spam calls have dropped for the third consecutive year, but anyone who owns a phone knows this is still a major problem.

In a press release, Sam Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said:

“Illegal calls remain a scourge, but the FTC’s strategy to pursue upstream players and equip the agency to confront emerging threats is showing clear signs of success.”

The report breaks down the calls by type — human or robocall — and also by topic. The most common type of call in the 2 million calls logged last year was “medical and prescription,” followed by “imposters” and “reducing debt.”

This downward trend might accelerate next year when new FCC guidelines take effect, which limit the ways marketing companies can use the consumer data they collect.

Update: (November 15 at 3:45 p.m. ET): Edited to clarify that the reports to the FTC of spam calls have fallen 50%, not that the volume of calls themselves have fallen 50%.