DE Leads Nation in Per Capita Do Not Call Registry Complaints

Image courtesy FTC Do Not Call Data Book 2024

The Federal Trade Commission reports that consumer reports about unwanted calls have dropped for the third year in a row – and that complaint volume is down by more than half since 2021. The FTC announced Operation Stop Scam Calls in 2023 and this year issued a rule banning the impersonation of government or business. The agency is also confronting emerging threats – including voice cloning. The current release of the Do Not Call Data Book 2024 shows that in Delaware over 802,000 people are in the Do Not Call Registry and the number of complaints has dropped from a high in 2021 of over 19,000 to 8685 in 2024. The top complaints are calls for reducing debt, medical or prescriptions or imposters – and live callers are more prevalent than robocalls by about 1000 and Sussex County leads the state in complaints. Overall, Delaware is #1 nationally per 100,000 population in registering complaints. 

In Maryland over 5-million have active registrations in the Do Not Call Registry. The number of complaints has dropped dramatically from a high in 2021 of over 122,000 to 41,831 in 2024. The number of complaints are low to moderate on the Lower Shore but increase in the Mid- and Upper Shore counties. More robocalls are reported in Maryland – with reducing debt, imposters and medical and prescriptions being the top complaint calls.

Image courtesy FTC Do Not Call Data Book 2024