Yesterday, the FTC issued its National Do Not Call Registry Data book for Fiscal Year 2017 (October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017).

The National Do Not Call Registry Data Book contains statistical data about phone numbers on the Registry, telemarketers and sellers accessing phone numbers on the Registry, and complaints consumers submit to the FTC about telemarketers allegedly violating the Do Not Call rules. Statistical data on Do Not Call (DNC) complaints is based on unverified complaints reported by consumers, not on a consumer survey. This year’s Data Book has been redesigned to provide more information on robocall complaints, new information about the types of calls consumers reported to the FTC, and includes a complete state-by-state analysis.  In addition, the FTC has developed a mini site on its website to make the information in the FY 2017 Data Book more accessible for the public, such as providing a webpage for each state. For the first time, the data behind the report will be available in (.csv) data files.  Leading the number of complaints per 100,000 in population was New Jersey, with Puerto Rico in last place.

Here are some statistics from our firm’s geographic footprint states (rankings are based on complaints per 100,000 population).

Alabama:

• Complaints: Ranked #22 (108,003) – up from 66,812 in 2016.
• Active registrations: Ranked #31 (3,393,619)  — up from 3.33M in 2016
• Complaints by call type:

1. Robocall: 71,627
2. Live caller: 34,896
3. Type not reported: 1,480

• Top 10 Complaints by topics (not all complaints report a topic):

1. Reducing debt: 13,673
2. Warranties and Protection Plans: 5,036
3. Home Security and Alarms: 3,973
4. Imposters: 3,390
5. Medical and Prescriptions: 3,305
6. Vacation and timeshare 1,783
7. Computer & Technical Support: 1,386
8. Lotteries, prizes and sweepstakes : 1,110
9. Work from home: 584
10. Home improvement and cleaning: 253

District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.)

• Complaints: Not ranked (24,303) – up from 18,304 in 2016.
• Active registrations: Not ranked (620,154)  — up from 605,725 in 2016
• Complaints by call type:

1. Robocall: 16,724
2. Live caller: 7,383
3. Type not reported: 196

• Top 10 Complaints by topics (not all complaints report a topic):

1. Reducing debt: 4,103
2. Vacation and timeshares: 1,628
3. Imposters: 1,262
4. Warranties and protection plans: 665
5. Medical and prescriptions: 459
6. Computer and technical support: 419
7. Lotteries, prizes and sweepstakes: 413
8. Energy, solar, and utilities: 196
9. Home improvement and cleaning: 188
10. Home security and alarms: 178

Florida:

• Complaints: Ranked #3 (588,021) – up from 385,490 in 2016
• Active Registrations: Ranked #29 (14,605,866) – up from 14.39M in 2016
• Complaints by call type:

1. Robocall: 363,801
2. Live caller: 219,301
3. Type not reported: 4,919

• Top 10 Complaints by topics (not all complaints report a topic):

1. Reducing debt: 63,231
2. Vacation and timeshare: 19,058
3. Warranties and protection plans: 18,939
4. Imposters: 18,262
5. Medical and prescriptions: 16,997
6. Home security and alarms: 10,906
7. Computer and technical support: 8,977
8. Lotteries, prizes and sweepstakes: 6,270
9. Energy, solar and utilities: 5,108
10. Work from home: 3,370

Georgia:

• Complaints: Ranked #15 (242,242) – up from 168,478  in 2016.
• Active registrations: Ranked #34 (7,095,159)  — up from 6.97M in 2016
• Complaints by call type:

1. Robocall: 153,542
2. Live caller: 86,095
3. Type not reported: 2,605

• Top 10 Complaints by topics (not all complaints report a topic):

1. Reducing debt: 28,121
2. Vacation and timeshares: 11,711
3. Warranties and protection plans: 10,658
4. Medical and prescriptions: 7,913
5. Imposters: 7,817
6. Home security and alarms: 5,789
7. Computer and technical support: 3,091`
8. Lotteries, prizes and sweepstakes: 2,840
9. Work from home: 1,467
10. Home improvement and cleaning: 1,237

Mississippi:

• Complaints: Ranked #46 (39,969) – up from 25,221 in 2016.
• Active registrations: Ranked #48 (1,636,395)  — up from 1.60M in 2016
• Complaints by call type:

1. Robocall: 25,674
2. Live caller: 13,567
3. Type not reported: 728

• Top 10 Complaints by topics (not all complaints report a topic):

1. Reducing debt: 6,111
2. Warranties and protection plans: 2,252
3. Imposters: 1,413
4. Vacation and timeshares: 1,261
5. Home security & alarms: 1,075
6. Medical and prescriptions: 1,068
7. Computer and technical support: 554
8. Lotteries, prizes and sweepstakes: 528
9. Work from home: 254
10. Home improvement and cleaning: 59