WhoCalledLookupUS

Robocalls in California

California consumers have filed 116,608 unwanted-call complaints with the FCC against 93,137 different phone numbers between 2014-01-01 and 2026-11-03 — 11.6% of all state-attributed complaints, ranking 1 nationally. Complaints in the last 12 months are up 18% on the 12 months before that.

116,608
FCC complaints
84,476
FTC DNC reports
26,509
FTC reports, last 30 days
#1
National rank (FCC)

What California residents are reporting

84,476 FTC Do Not Call complaints from California since Jul 24. The most common named subject is debt reduction, at 30%. 72% of complainants who answered said the call was a recorded message.

Complaint subjects

  • Other / unspecified30,22636%
  • Debt reduction25,74230%
  • Impostor (government, business, family)9,21211%
  • Dropped call / no message8,0249%
  • No subject given5,1876%
  • Home improvement & cleaning1,6252%
  • Medical & prescriptions1,1641%

When the calls come (as reported)

28% between 10am and 1pm; 93% on weekdays, most on Thursdays.

Week by week

26,563 complaints from California in the last four weeks, up 9% on the four weeks before.

Neighbor spoofing in California

23% of the calls California residents reported showed the resident's own area code, and 44% showed a California area code of any kind. 22% came from toll-free numbers. Most calls here don't pretend to be local, so a familiar area code is less of a warning sign than in states where spoofing dominates. How neighbor spoofing works.

What the caller ID showed

  • The resident's own area code19,26123%
  • Another California area code18,15821%
  • Toll-free number18,67922%
  • Out-of-state area code28,37834%

Area codes on the calls

  • 8333,8055%
  • 8773,2254%
  • 8883,0444%
  • 8662,9644%
  • 8552,8153%
  • 8442,2433%

California area codes

Each county is coloured by the area code that holds most of its phone prefixes. Overlay codes share one territory and one colour. Complaint counts are from California residents since Jul 24.

Map of California counties coloured by area code: 530/837, 209/350, 369/707, 357/559, 831, 805/820, 442/760, 279/916, 415/628, 661, 213/323/738, 840/909, 925, 408/669, 951, 341/510, 657/714, 650, 619/858
Built from NANPA prefix assignments and US Census Bureau county boundaries. Area codes follow exchange boundaries, so county colours are approximate at the edges.
Area codeResidents' complaintsCalls showing it
619 · 8586,2372,325
657 · 7146,0611,975
279 · 9164,2822,036
341 · 5103,4811,741
840 · 9093,4352,040
415 · 6283,4251,289
805 · 8203,1531,420
442 · 7603,1481,666
9253,0801,646
408 · 6693,0011,449
213 · 323 · 7382,9232,547
6502,882860
369 · 7072,8532,015
357 · 5592,4251,291
6612,3961,041
530 · 8372,3521,110
9512,3491,126
209 · 3502,2531,302
8311,244419

Likely campaigns reaching California

13% of California's FTC complaints in the campaign window match one of these statistical groupings: many numbers, the same complaint, the same pattern. They don't identify who is calling.

California complaint volume by year

Unwanted-call complaints filed with the FCC by California consumers each year. The shape of this curve reflects both actual call volume and how aware consumers are that the FCC complaint centre exists.

Area codes most reported in California

The displayed area code of numbers reported by California consumers — often, but not always, a local code, because spoofing favours familiar-looking numbers.

How the calls reached California

Prerecorded Voice
51,282
Live Voice
40,070
Abandoned Calls
16,705
Text Message
7,679
Autodialed Live Voice Call
700
Email
17
Wireless (cell phone)
65,832
Wired
35,491
Internet (VOIP)
15,235

Numbers California residents reported this month

The numbers California consumers reported most to the FTC's Do Not Call Registry in the last 30 days — 26,509 reports in all, 4,118 of them this week; 72% were described as robocalls. Click a number for what it was reported for.

What California residents were called about this month

  • Other / unspecified
    9,439
  • Debt reduction
    8,535
  • Impostor (government, business, family)
    2,852
  • Dropped call / no message
    2,332
  • No subject given
    1,631
  • Medical & prescriptions
    400
  • Home improvement & cleaning
    392
  • Energy, solar & utilities
    248

Numbers most reported to the FCC by California consumers

Ranked by how many California FCC complaints name them, limited to the last five years. A number appearing here means people in California reported receiving calls that displayed it — not that its owner placed them.

Recently reported by California consumers

Numbers with the newest California complaints in the last 12 months — the campaigns calling California right now, not the historical leaders above.

Do Not Call protection in California

California formally adopted the FTC's National Do Not Call Registry as its own state list rather than running a separate one, so a single free registration at donotcall.gov covers you. State authorities can still enforce against telemarketers who ignore it, in addition to any federal penalty.

Whatever your state does, the federal National Do Not Call Registry applies, and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act gives you a private right of action against certain unlawful calls. Report unwanted calls at the FCC complaint centre and fraud at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. In California, the California Attorney General also takes consumer complaints about scam calls.

Do Not Call classification per National Association of Attorneys General — history of Do Not Call. This is general information, not legal advice.

California robocall FAQs

What are California robocalls about right now?

Since 2026-07-24, California residents filed 84,476 FTC Do Not Call complaints. The most common named subject was debt reduction, at 30% of complaints, and 72% of callers who answered said the call was a recorded message.

Are spam calls in California using local numbers?

Often. 23% of the calls California residents reported to the FTC showed the resident's own area code, and 44% showed a California area code of any kind; 22% came from toll-free numbers. A local-looking number is no evidence the caller is local.

When do robocalls hit California?

28% of complaints that give a call time describe calls between 10am and 1pm local time as reported.

How many robocall complaints do California residents file?

California consumers have filed 116,608 unwanted-call complaints with the FCC against 93,137 distinct phone numbers, covering 2014-01-01 to 2026-11-03. That is 11.6% of all state-attributed complaints in the dataset, ranking California 1 among US states and territories by complaint volume.

Does California have its own Do Not Call list?

California formally adopted the FTC's National Do Not Call Registry as its own state list rather than running a separate one, so a single free registration at donotcall.gov covers you. State authorities can still enforce against telemarketers who ignore it, in addition to any federal penalty.

Where do the calls reported in California come from?

The FCC records the state the person filing the complaint was in, not where the caller was. Because caller ID is easily spoofed, a call reported in California may have been placed from anywhere in the world and may have displayed a California number that belongs to an uninvolved person. Area code alone tells you nothing reliable about a caller's location.

What kind of calls are reported most in California?

Prerecorded Voice is the most-reported category in California, accounting for 51,282 of the 116,608 complaints (44%). Live Voice is second with 40,070.

Complaint figures from the FCC Consumer Complaint Data Center, imported nightly, and FTC Do Not Call complaints (unverified consumer reports), published every weekday. The state recorded is the state the complainant filed from.