Most Spam Calls Originate From Your Home State, Claims Study

According to new data from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) the bulk of those spam calls you receive originate in your home state, or at least appear to.

  Area codes are not necessarily indicator of spam

According to the latest FTC data, shared by the incogni blog online, 59.81 percent of spam calls originate in your home state.

Incogni's research team examined the FTC data, and found there are no certain area codes that are more associated with spam than others, which goes against popular belief. They also found most recommendations on how to avoid spam contain inaccurate information, including what area codes to 'avoid.'

Two of three spam calls are made using a number from the same state as the recipient, although often spammers use spoofing devices to make it look that way.

Very few spam area codes are reported in more than one state, according to their findings.

The data showed the worst area codes or prefixes that showed up in the FTC study included some 800 numbers, namely (1) 833,  (2) 855, and (4) 888. The most commonly listed area code from the spam calls list was 213, which is from CA.

According to the Incogni report:

"The data published by the FTC indicate that spammers use different area code numbers to target different states. Which spam codes are most frequently reported in each state? The surprising truth is that the overwhelming majority of all unwanted calls reported to the FTC come from the state in which the recipient of the call lives."