In 2025, the Federal Trade Commission received more than 2.6 million complaints about unwanted calls, with reducing debt pitches, impostor scams and medical-related calls leading the categories of reported nuisance or fraudulent contact.
The data reveals significant geographic variation in complaint rates. When adjusted for population, Arizona residents filed the most complaints per 100,000 people, followed by Florida, Tennessee, Illinois, Nevada, Colorado, Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey and Oklahoma. Consumer advocates say higher complaint rates may reflect both greater exposure to scams and stronger awareness of where to report them.
What the Right Is Saying
Free-market advocates and some Republican lawmakers have raised concerns about regulatory approaches that could impose costs on businesses making legitimate calls. Industry groups note that many robocalls are legal, including those delivering appointment reminders, flight updates and other service notifications.
Representative Gus Bilirakis of Florida, who has worked on telecommunications legislation, has emphasized the need to target bad actors rather than restrict lawful automated calling. "Consumers benefit from important notifications delivered by phone," Bilirakis said in a statement. "Our goal should be stopping scammers while preserving legitimate services."
Some conservative commentators have argued that enforcement resources would be better directed toward prosecuting fraudsters rather than regulating call technology. The Heritage Foundation has published analysis arguing that caller ID authentication requirements could create barriers to entry for smaller companies and startups.
Telecommunications industry groups, including the USTelecom Association, have pointed to their own investments in call-blocking technology and collaboration with law enforcement as evidence of private-sector progress on the issue.
What the Left Is Saying
Consumer protection advocates argue that the volume of complaints underscores the need for stronger federal enforcement against robocallers and scammers. "These numbers represent real people—often elderly or financially vulnerable—who lose money to calls they never asked for," said a spokesperson for the National Consumer Law Center, which has advocated for expanded FTC authority to combat automated calling.
Progressive groups have called for stricter regulations on telecommunications carriers, arguing that providers should bear more responsibility for traffic that passes through their networks. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Representative Jan Schakowsky of Illinois have backed legislation that would require phone companies to authenticate caller ID and block calls from unverified sources at no cost to consumers.
Advocates for older adults note that the FTC's data shows impostor scams—where callers pretend to be government officials, family members or businesses—remain a significant threat. The AARP has pushed for public education campaigns targeting seniors, arguing that complaint data likely undercounts actual losses because many victims feel embarrassed or do not realize they were scammed.
What the Numbers Show
The FTC received 2.6 million complaints about unwanted calls in 2025. The breakdown by category shows reducing debt pitches led all reported issues at 446,243 complaints, followed by impostor scams at 246,228 and medical and prescription offers at 208,228. Energy, solar and utility calls accounted for 35,378 complaints, while home improvement and cleaning calls totaled 28,571.
When looking at total complaint categories beyond the FTC's specific call filing system, debt reduction services led with 1,092,275 reports, followed by medical and prescription offers at 830,850. Warranties and protection plans generated 730,621 complaints, energy-related calls produced 236,629 and computer and tech equipment pitches resulted in 126,221 complaints.
The data shows that most complaint categories—except home improvement and cleaning calls—consisted primarily of robocalls rather than live callers. Robocalls are automated calls delivering recorded messages. While robocalls used purely for messages or debt collection are generally legal under U.S. regulations, the FTC notes that any recorded voice attempting to sell something without explicit written permission is illegal.
Arizona's top ranking in complaints per capita does not necessarily indicate it has the worst spam call problem—only that its residents reported at higher rates relative to population size compared to other states.
The Bottom Line
The geographic variation in complaint rates highlights how consumer protection issues play out differently across states. Arizona, Florida and Tennessee appearing in the top tier of complaints per capita reflects a combination of aggressive telemarketing activity, scam targeting patterns and local awareness campaigns encouraging residents to report unwanted calls.
What remains unclear from the data is how many additional incidents go unreported. Consumer groups argue that true losses are significantly higher than complaint figures suggest because many victims do not report scams out of embarrassment or lack of awareness about where to file complaints.
The FTC has emphasized that consumers should hang up on suspected robocalls without engaging, avoid pressing buttons to speak with representatives and never confirm personal information to unknown callers. The agency also maintains the national Do Not Call Registry as one tool for reducing legitimate telemarketing calls, though scammers typically ignore registration lists.
Telecommunications carriers have invested in call authentication technology designed to verify caller identity and reduce spoofed numbers. Industry groups say these efforts have reduced some categories of fraudulent calling, though enforcement officials acknowledge that bad actors continuously adapt their methods.