Heads up: Robotexts are getting worse than robocalls
According to the California Public Interest Research Group, millions of robotexts can be sent out once.
According to the California Public Interest Research Group, or CALPIRG, robocalls have declined by about 47% in the last year. But they haven't stopped completely.
CALPIRG credits the Consumer Protection Act that went into effect the beginning of 2021 for this decline. It requires service providers to install caller identification technology to help consumers identify scammers and ignore or block those calls.
"The good news is that the number of voice providers that have installed the preferred robocall blocking technology has nearly quadrupled since last year," said Sander Kushen of CALPIRG.
But there's bad news too, robotexts are on the rise.
"They have skyrocketed in the past year from about one billion to 12 billion per month," Kushen said.
According to CALPIRG, millions of these texts can be sent out at the same time. As safety features have matured, so have scammers.
One in three Americans have fallen victim phone scams, according to a study from the site Truecaller.
But Kushen says the FCC is looking to pass new rules to combat robotext which would require phone companies to block obvious, illegal text messages.
In the meantime, they recommend educating friends and family about the dangers of calls and texts like these. Plus, check you phone settings to see if you have an option to silence junk callers.
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