OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — New numbers show Americans are getting more robocalls than ever before.
Americans received so many last month that it amounted to almost 2,000 calls per second. A total of more than 5 billion robocalls were sent out, and according to the Robocall blocking service, Youmail, nearly half of the robocalls were scams.
Here in Nebraska, a bill is in the Legislature that would clamp down on robocalls. Senator Steve Halloran of Hastings introduced the bill back in January, and it would ban callers from sending bogus caller ID information to phones "with the intent to defraud, cause harm or wrongfully obtain anything of value," according to our news partners at the Omaha World-Herald.
"Nebraskans are tired of receiving these calls," Halloran said. "It's not respectful of people's privacy. They don't expect to be misled when they see a call coming in."
Some ways that you can prevent robocalls, according to the FCC.
- Don't answer calls from unknown numbers. If you answer such a call, hang up immediately.
- Do not respond to any questions, especially those that can be answered with yes.
- NEVER give out personal information, such as account numbers, Social Security numbers, mother's maiden names, paswords, or other indentifying information.
- Talk to your phone company about call blocking tools they may have and check into apps that you can download to block unwanted calls.
KMTV 3 News Now reporter John Madden will have more from local experts on how to avoid those annoying robocalls tonight at 6.
