How many spam calls are you receiving?

If you're like most people, you probably get a lot of calls over the course of a week. They're probably calls that you'd just rather not get at all.

How many of those calls do you get, exactly? Have you ever sat down and taken notes to track it? If you did, you might be shocked and dismayed at the results.

The good news is that you don't have to figure it out

Roboshield, a division of a California-based company, recently did the research for you. The news is even worse than you might have guessed.

Shockingly, the company found that more than half of all of the phone calls respondents to their survey received were unwanted spam or scam calls. The number clocked in at a staggering 54 percent!

Worse, the problem gets bigger the older you get. If you're in your twenties, you can expect an average of 11 unwanted calls a week. Respondents in their 30's and 40's averaged 12 a week, and respondents aged 50 and up got 13 unwanted calls a week, on average.

Across the age spectrum, more than 80 percent of respondents listed unwanted phone calls as being more annoying than unwanted text messages or emails. Yet, fully half of Americans said they'd answer the phone if the number was an unknown caller but the number looked at least vaguely familiar.

Here's a surprise

One genuinely surprising find in the company's results was the fact that more than half of all survey respondents (53.8 percent) said they had received calls from scammers claiming to be from one government agency or another. In addition, more than a quarter (25.5 percent) said they had received calls from scammers asking pointed questions aimed at getting their health insurance information.

Our perspective

Aside from simply ignoring your phone and letting it ring if you don't recognize the number, the single biggest and the best thing you can do to bring the number down is to add your number to the National Do Not Call registry. It only takes a few minutes and can save you tons of time and aggravation going forward, making it well worth taking the time to do!

~ As Hill Street Blues' Sgt. Esterhaus always advised: "Hey, let's be careful out there! " ~

 

Meanwhile, check out this report

This free executive report may give you insights into how to build your business with safe IT environments: 10 Hidden IT Risks That Might Threaten Your Business and 1 Easy Way to Find Them

The author

Thanks for reading this short post. For more tips on thriving with small business technology, check out the other blog posts at DWPia Blogs. I am also available on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

Cybersecurity Expert, Small Business Technology Consultant, Managed Services Provider, Managed IT SupportI am Denis Wilson, President and Principal Consultant for DWP Information Architects. I help professionals grow their business by building a foundation of rock-solid information solutions for smaller healthcare, insurance, financial, legal, and nonprofits firms in Ventura County and San Fernando Valley. And have created cost-effective IT solutions, for over 20 years, specializing in cybersecurity and regulatory compliance. I am also a published author and speaker, working extensively with a variety of organizations, as well as providing small business technology education programs through business and professional associations. This just in: I will be speaking regularly at California Lutheran University's Center for Nonprofit Leadership starting in September.

Contact me if you would like me to speak at your association