Robocalls are the automated calls we all get from scammers and spammers – about car accidents we didn’t have, pension investments, PPI, fake lottery wins, cyber currency investments etc.

It is estimated that around 85 billion robocalls were placed last year and that number rises every year.

Why?

Simply, because using computers to dial people and play back a message to them is cheaper than employing criminals to make the calls.

When people are dumb enough to respond as requested e.g. press button 1 then they are put through to a human being in a criminal call centre to push whatever the scam is.

The graph below the countries most affected by worldwide robocalls. (It shows the percentage of calls per country that are robocalls)

(Statistics from Global Robocall Radar).

Is there an answer to this?

No.

It is illegal in the UK for companies to make automatic calls without the recipients permission but most of these companies operate outside of the UK or simply shutdown when the authorities get close.

Always ignore such automated calls – put the phone down and in time they will stop calling.

Do you have an opinion on this matter? Please comment in the box below.