Meet MA's Most Annoying Robocallers

There’s nothing worse than seeing your phone buzz, picking up and realizing it's a robocall, where someone is trying to dupe you into giving up your bank and credit card information. With tax season coming up, you can expect even more of those calls to start coming.

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 54 million robocalls in New Massachusetts, an average of 6.6 for every person in the state.

Here are the top 20 robocallers in Masschusetts last month, showing the number, place of origin if known, the carrier, the caller ID and the type of call.

1.
978-424-9002
Boston, MA
Teleport Communications
RE MONTACHUSETT
Unknown Robocaller
2.
781-985-0922
Boston, MA
T-Mobile
george stamos
Unknown Robocaller
3.
508-717-3947
Boston, MA
Onvoy, LLC
Prison Call Payment
Prison Call Payment
4.
800-322-3223
Toll Free
Toll Free
Telemarketing
Telemarketing
5.
800-592-2000
Toll Free
Toll Free
Telemarketing
Telemarketing
6.
617-532-6100
Boston, MA
CenturyLink
Order Followup
Customer Call
7.
323-487-0321
Los Angeles, CA
Bandwidth.com CLEC, LLC
Business Loan Scam
Business Loan Scam
8.
800-266-2278
Toll Free
Toll Free
Comcast Customer Service/Bill Collector
Debt Collector
9.
617-402-2915
Boston, MA
Bandwidth.com CLEC, LLC
Electric Bill Scam
Electric Bill Scam
10.
877-688-9557
Toll Free
Toll Free
Electric Bill Scam
Electric Bill Scam
11.
617-263-8191
Boston, MA
Onvoy, LLC
Boston Ma
Unknown Robocaller
12.
617-203-8528
Boston, MA
Bandwidth.com CLEC, LLC
Electric Bill Scam
Electric Bill Scam
13.
323-621-6832
Los Angeles, CA
Bandwidth.com CLEC, LLC
Business Loan Scam
Business Loan Scam
14.
508-441-3367
Boston, MA
MCI Metro ATS
Payment Reminder
Payment Reminder
15.
774-366-3096
Boston, MA
Onvoy, LLC
UNAVAILABLE
Unknown Robocaller
16.
978-999-4170
Boston, MA
Local Access LLC
MA ROCKPORT
Unknown Robocaller
17.
914-214-1505
New York, NY
Bandwidth.com CLEC, LLC
IRS Scam
Unknown Robocaller
18.
888-423-0900
Toll Free
Toll Free
Verizon Information Line
Customer Call
19.
877-382-2363
Toll Free
Toll Free
Division of Transitional assistance
Appointment Reminder
20.
877-273-1937
Toll Free
Toll Free
Medical Customer Call
Medical Customer Call

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:

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.

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Photo credit: Shutterstock