FTC Releases FY 2017 National Do Not Call Registry Data Book and DNC Mini Site

The Federal Trade Commission today issued the National Do Not Call Registry Data Book for Fiscal Year 2017. The FTC’s National Do Not Call Registry lets consumers choose not to receive most telemarketing calls.

Now in its ninth year of publication, the Data Book has been redesigned and contains a wealth of information about the Registry for FY 2017 (from October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017). The Data Book now provides 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, this year 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 data files on the new website.

New in FY 2017

Highlights from this year’s Data Book include:

• In reporting the total number of DNC complaints, the Data Book now breaks the number down to show how many were about robocalls versus live callers.
• The Data Book now includes information about the topics of calls reported to the FTC that is gathered from the FTC’s online complaint form.
• The Data Book now includes a state-by-state analysis of DNC complaints and uses a new, more accurate way of reporting consumers’ data. If consumers reported their state in their complaint, the Data Book includes their complaint in that state’s complaint data. If consumers did not report their state, the Data Book uses their area code to determine their state. The state-by-state analysis also includes the top 10 topics of consumer complaints.
• The underlying data in the report is now publicly available at: www.ftc.gov/donotcall-databook2017.

FY 2017 Registration and Complaint Data

According to the Data Book, at the end of FY 2017, the Do Not Call Registry contained 229,816,164 actively registered phone numbers, up from 226,001,288 at the end of FY 2016. In addition, the number of consumer complaints about unwanted telemarketing calls increased from 5,340,234 during FY 2016 to 7,157,370 during FY 2017.

During the past fiscal year, the FTC has continued to receive many consumer complaints about telemarketing robocalls. In FY 2017, the Commission received 4,501,967 complaints about robocalls, compared with 3,401,614 FY 2016. For every month in the fiscal year, robocalls made up the majority of consumer complaints about Do Not Call violations. The topic of the call consumers most frequently identified when reporting a robocall complaint was “Reducing Debt,” with 771,158 complaints received in FY 2017.

Information for Consumers

Information for consumers about the Do Not Call Registry, company-specific do not call requests, and telemarketer Caller ID requirements can be found on the FTC’s website, and consumers can sign up for the National Registry for free. Other information about robocalls and what consumers can do about them also is available.

The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition, and protect and educate consumers. You can learn more about consumer topics and file a consumer complaint online or by calling 1-877-FTC-HELP (382-4357). Like the FTC on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, read our blogs and subscribe to press releases for the latest FTC news and resources.