If it feels like your phone has been ringing nonstop with unfamiliar numbers, you’re far from alone. Americans were bombarded with an estimated 4.4 billion robocalls in July, marking the highest monthly total in a year, according to data compiled by call-blocking service YouMail.

YouMail’s tracking shows that robocall activity had fallen to its lowest level in October 2025 but has steadily climbed in recent months. The company reported that telemarketing pitches and scam calls accounted for the largest share of unwanted calls during July.

Not every automated call is fraudulent. Many are legitimate reminders about appointments, bills, or other services. Still, the sheer number of unknown callers has made it increasingly difficult for consumers to distinguish genuine calls from scams.

According to YouMail, the most common robocall in July involved offers for pre-approved personal loans, often telling recipients they qualified for large loans with affordable monthly payments.

“As with similar campaigns, this appears to be at a minimum, illegal telemarketing at scale. Based on consumer reports and the behavior of the calls, it’s likely to be a scam,” YouMail said in its July report.

Although robocall activity increased across the country, several regions experienced particularly sharp jumps. Data provided to Nexstar showed that phone numbers with area codes in Texas, Georgia, and Indiana saw the largest increases in spam calls.

The area codes recording the biggest month-over-month increases in July were:

• 346 (Houston, Texas): 16.2 million calls, up 19%
• 470 (Atlanta, Georgia): 20.2 million calls, up 13%
• 229 (Albany, Georgia): 32.1 million calls, up 13%
• 765 (Indianapolis, Indiana): 17.3 million calls, up 12%
• 901 (Memphis, Tennessee): 47.4 million calls, up 11%
• 812 (Evansville, Indiana): 25 million calls, up 11%
• 720 (Denver, Colorado): 17.7 million calls, up 11%
• 870 (Jonesboro, Arkansas): 32.2 million calls, up 9%
• 317 (Indianapolis, Indiana): 24.9 million calls, up 9%
• 931 (Clarksville, Tennessee): 22 million calls, up 9%
• 254 (Killeen, Texas): 19.3 million calls, up 9%

YouMail CEO Alex Quilici said that despite new regulations adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in recent years, scammers continue finding ways to place massive numbers of illegal calls.

“We suspect the fraudsters are getting on the telephone networks at scale through a set of carriers that are benefiting from this illegal call traffic,” Quilici told Nexstar. “There are more barriers to that now, but it doesn’t take a lot of bad actors to generate meaningful volumes.”

Lawmakers are also attempting to curb the problem. A bill approved by the Senate would further target robocalls by cracking down on those originating outside the United States.

Promoting the legislation, Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said “folks in red and blue states alike are sick and tired of picking up the phone and wondering if they’re being scammed.”

While enrolling your phone number in the National Do Not Call Registry can reduce telemarketing calls, experts caution that it cannot stop every unwanted caller.

Consumer protection specialists recommend ignoring suspicious calls from unfamiliar numbers and allowing them to go to voicemail. If you need to contact your bank, utility provider, health insurer, or another company, they advise calling the official number printed on your card, bill, or account statement rather than returning an unknown call.