Meet Georgia’s Most Annoying Robocallers

ATLANTA, GA — 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 322.5 million robocalls in Georgia, an average of 25.5 for every person in the Peach State.

Here are the top 20 robocallers in Georgia 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 school districts, along with spammers.

These are Georgia's top callers:

1.
866-718-4777
Toll Free
Toll Free
Securus Inmate
Prison Call Consent
2.
229-410-4993
Albany, GA
DeltaCom, Inc
Fraternal Order of Police
Charity Solicitation
3.
877-647-8552
Toll Free
Toll Free
Wells Fargo
Debt Collector
4.
800-955-6600
Toll Free
Toll Free
Capital One Payments/Collections
Debt Collector
5.
800-288-2020
Toll Free
Toll Free
AT&T Wireless
Customer Call
6.
478-217-4487
Macon, GA
Level 3 Communications
Robocaller
Generic Robocaller
7.
800-266-2278
Toll Free
Toll Free
Comcast Customer Service/Bill Collector
Debt Collector
8.
888-660-5890
Toll Free
Toll Free
Georgia Power Payment Reminder
Debt Collector
9.
888-222-4227
Toll Free
Toll Free
Santander
Debt Collector
10.
855-895-3382
Toll Free
Toll Free
Fingerhut
Debt Collector
11.
800-942-3767
Toll Free
Toll Free
Substitute Teacher Notification
Employment Opportunity
12.
800-321-9637
Toll Free
Toll Free
Exeter Debt Collection
Car Loan Debt Collector
13.
800-678-7986
Toll Free
Toll Free
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
Loan Payment Reminder
14.
844-248-6644
Toll Free
Toll Free
Gwinnett County Public Schools
School Announcement
15.
888-393-7162
Toll Free
Toll Free
Bill Me Later
Credit Card Debt Collector
16.
678-676-1200
Atlanta, GA
US LEC Corp.
Dekalb County Board of Education
School Announcement
17.
442-242-9630
Victorville, CA
Paetec
Insurance Customer Call
Customer Education
18.
877-710-1116
Toll Free
Toll Free
Securus Inmate
Prison Call Consent
19.
425-276-8682
Seattle, WA
Onvoy, LLC
Receivables Performance Management
Debt Collector
20.
307-464-3934
Casper, WY
Onvoy, LLC
Health Insurance Scam
Health Insurance Scam

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