SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwired - October 18, 2016) - As Americans head into the final weeks of the closely watched 2016 Presidential election, Hiya, the global leader in phone spam protection, took a closer look at political campaign calls, both legitimate and fraudulent. Based on hundreds of thousands of political calls identified by the company each month, legitimate calls from the Trump and Clinton campaigns combined have increased more than 64% since the beginning of the year, with 20% growth between July to September. Political scam calls have also increased at a staggering 614% since the beginning of the year.
Legitimate Campaign Calls: Clinton and Trump
In looking at legitimate campaign calls targeted to Hiya users from the last 30 days, calls for Trump to consumers collectively outpace Clinton by 388%. Not surprisingly, the majority of both Clinton and Trump's campaign calls originate in the DC area as well as Manhattan, NY, where both campaigns have headquarters. With less than one month until Election Day, call behavior could be indicative of the state of the election. For example, swing states Florida and Pennsylvania are where a majority of Clinton's calls originate.
Top 5 Clinton Area Codes (where calls originate):
- 202 (Washington, D.C.)
- 646 (Manhattan, NY)
- 215 (Philadelphia, PA)
- 315 (Syracuse, NY)
- 561 (Palm Beach County, FL)
Top 5 Trump Area Codes (where calls originate):
- 202 (Washington, D.C.)
- 646 (Manhattan, NY)
- 315 (Syracuse, NY)
- 585 (Rochester, NY)
- 310 (Los Angeles, CA)
Political Scams
To add insult to injury, it's not just legal and annoying campaign calls on the rise, but scam calls aiming to defraud consumers, having increased 614% since January. To help Americans avoid these dangerous calls, Hiya has identified the top election scams and their originating area codes.
1. Re-register or voter verification scams
In an attempt to gain access to personal information such as emails, addresses and social security numbers, scammers pretend to re-register consumers or verify their voter registration information.
2. Campaign donation scams
While political campaigns can and will legally seek donations by phone, never donate directly over the phone without due diligence to confirm the organization yourself.
3. Election survey scams
Offering incentives such as free cruises, trips or gift cards, scammers ask consumers to answer survey questions on behalf of a political party before asking for credit card information to cover the cost of shipping, taxes or handling of the "prize."
Top 5 Political Scam Area Codes (where calls originate):
- 213 (Los Angeles, CA)
- 803 (Columbia, SC)
- 312 (Chicago, IL)
- 281 (Houston, TX)
- 212 (Manhattan, NY)
Will Consumers Answer Political Calls?
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act prohibits politicians to robocall consumers on their cell phones. Campaigns can circumvent this ban by manually dialing cell phones via live agents and at a much higher cost. Still the biggest issue with stumping by phone is simply reaching voters. A recent survey conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of Hiya found that the vast majority of Americans said they wouldn't pick up the phone if they knew a political plea was waiting on the other end of the line.
- More than three in four (76%) of Americans said they would be "not very" or "not at all" likely to answer a call if they knew it was regarding a political campaign or donation.
As a caller ID app, Hiya helps consumers determine whether or not to pick up the phone. This includes identifying legitimate numbers for both Clinton and Trump campaigns. On the flip side, Hiya also identifies and can block political scams, so users can avoid falling victim to fraudsters that are taking full advantage of this election season.
Hiya recently released its caller ID and call blocking app for iOS 10, the first app of its kind available for download on the updated software. To learn more about the free iOS app, click here. To download the free app for Android devices, click here. Learn more about Hiya at www.Hiya.com.
About Hiya
Hiya provides enhanced caller ID products and services designed to make the phone experience better. With a database of more over 1.5 billion unique numbers globally, Hiya leverages its expansive algorithms to identify unknown calls and monitor phone-based threats for consumers and businesses. Hiya screens more than 665 million incoming calls per month, and has detected more than one billion robo, telemarketing and scam calls and texts to date. Hiya is available as a consumer app on Google Android and iPhone and is integrated into the phone experience for T-Mobile and Samsung Galaxy S7 users worldwide. For more information, please visit www.hiya.com.
Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of Hiya from September 28-30, 2016 among 2,007 adults ages 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact Stephanie Cooley at Stephanie@dottedlinecomm.com
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Contact Information:
Lisa Bowers
Hiya
lisa@hiya.com
(847) 894.7333
