Meet Florida’s Most Annoying Robocallers

FLORIDA — Few things are as irritating as seeing your phone buzz, picking it up and realizing it's a robocall, where someone is trying to trick you into giving up your bank and credit card information. With tax season coming up, you can expect even more of those calls to waste your time.

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 388.8 million robocalls in Florida, an average of 20.4 for every person in the Sunshine State.

Here are the top 20 robocallers in Florida last month, showing the number, place of origin if known, the carrier, the caller ID and the type of call. They include legitimate debt collectors, a mortgage company, and two cable companies, along with spammers.

These are Florida's top callers:

1.
772-242-0376
Port St. Lucie, FL
Onvoy, LLC
Electric Bill Scam
Electric Bill Scam
2.
877-647-8552
Toll Free
Toll Free
Wells Fargo
Debt Collector
3.
800-955-6600
Toll Free
Toll Free
Capital One Payments/Collections
Debt Collector
4.
866-408-4070
Toll Free
Toll Free
Barclays Bank Debt Collection
Bank Debt Collector
5.
800-266-2278
Toll Free
Toll Free
Comcast Customer Service/Bill Collector
Debt Collector
6.
888-222-4227
Toll Free
Toll Free
Santander
Debt Collector
7.
855-895-3382
Toll Free
Toll Free
Fingerhut
Debt Collector
8.
727-513-3510
Tampa, FL
Twilio
UNAVAILABLE
Unknown Robocaller
9.
877-378-9207
Toll Free
Toll Free
Comcast
Service Payment Reminder
10.
386-597-1413
Daytona Beach, FL
Onvoy, LLC
COAST FL PALM
Unknown Robocaller
11.
888-205-2354
Toll Free
Toll Free
Spectrum
TV Provider Spam
12.
478-220-7205
Macon, GA
Twilio
+14782207205
Unknown Robocaller
13.
972-512-3472
Dallas, TX
MCI Metro ATS
Bank/Credit Card Payment Reminder
Bank Debt Collector
14.
866-316-4146
Toll Free
Toll Free
Prison Call Consent
Prison Call Consent
15.
800-288-2020
Toll Free
Toll Free
AT&T Wireless
Customer Call
16.
800-321-9637
Toll Free
Toll Free
Exeter Debt Collection
Car Loan Debt Collector
17.
800-847-2911
Toll Free
Toll Free
Interest Rate Scam
Interest Rate Scam
18.
866-458-7688
Toll Free
Toll Free
Payment Reminder
Bank Debt Collector
19.
888-393-7162
Toll Free
Toll Free
Bill Me Later
Credit Card Debt Collector
20.
866-532-0423
Toll Free
Toll Free
Citibank
Bank Debt Collector

YouMail's index showed that residents in Baton Rouge were bombarded with robocalls last month, ranking No. 1 in the country, with a staggering 58.4 robocalls per person. Washington, D.C. residents saw the second-highest number of calls, at 51.6. Here are the 10 cities receiving the most calls per person in January:

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.

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Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Photo credit: Shutterstock