ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — For most cell phone users, robocalls are a major annoyance, and a recent study highlights that these spam calls have reached a peak not seen in six years. Our investigative team, 10 Investigates, has been delving into this issue for several years through our series, “Stop the Robocalls.”

The U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a nonprofit organization, has analyzed the prevalence of these unwanted calls. On a national scale, Americans receive approximately 2.5 billion robocalls each month, which translates to about one in three individuals receiving at least one scam call daily. This surge in robocalls has persisted despite the implementation of federal legislation mandating companies to adopt technology aimed at curbing spam since 2019.

Orlando and Tampa rank among the top 25 cities most affected by robocalls nationwide. In Florida alone, data reveals that residents received 3.7 billion robocalls in 2025, averaging around 194 calls per person. According to the CEO of a major call-blocking company, the robocall issue has evolved as scammers become increasingly sophisticated in their targeting methods.

“Investigating these calls takes time,” explained Alex Quilici, CEO of Youmail, to Florida Investigates. “For instance, when someone makes an overwhelming number of calls, determining whether they’re legal requires a process. You might suspect they’re illegal, but then you have to subpoena the records, check the calls made, and verify if consent was obtained. This process allows scammers to exploit loopholes and flood us with calls.”

Quilici further mentioned that consumers often need to conduct their own research before answering calls or even engaging with text messages.

“With AI now, the bad guys are using AI to do better quality text messages, to do better quality audio and voicemails. They can imitate people very easily. Like if you have a voicemail greeting in your own voice, you can now basically create a whole voice clone of you from that. And we’re starting to see that start to happen,” Quilici said.