Spam calls and text messages have become more than just a nuisance for Americans. New research from Cloaked reveals that unwanted communications, phishing attempts, and growing scam fatigue are changing how consumers interact with their phones, respond to unknown callers, and decide whether to share personal information online.
Cloaked surveyed 1,000 Americans to understand how people experience spam calls, spam texts, phishing emails, and personal data requests. The findings show that while cybercrime losses continue to rise sharply, many Americans are responding by screening communication, withholding phone numbers, and becoming more cautious about who they trust with their identity data.
According to the study, Americans receive an average of 16 spam calls and 9 spam texts per month. Robocalls ranked as the most bothersome type of unwanted contact, with 58% of respondents naming them as their top frustration, followed by spam texts at 20% and phishing emails at 14%.
Despite being the most irritating format, robocalls are not the spam channel Americans find most dangerous. Phishing emails ranked as the most convincing spam format, selected by 40% of Americans, and as the format most likely to cause accidental engagement, selected by 32%. For security teams and consumers alike, this reinforces email’s continued role as a high-risk attack vector.
The research comes as cybercrime continues to grow into a major financial and operational risk. Reported cybercrime losses filed with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center surpassed $20 billion for the first time in 2025, reaching $20.9 billion. That represents a 26% increase from 2024, when reported losses totaled $16.6 billion.
Over the longer term, the growth has been even more dramatic. Reported cybercrime losses rose from $17.8 million in 2001 to $20.9 billion in 2025, making reported losses more than 1,170 times higher over that period. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received 1,008,597 cybercrime complaints in 2025, up from 49,711 in 2001, a 1,929% increase.
That means Americans filed nearly 3,000 cybercrime complaints with the FBI every single day in 2025. This broader cybercrime surge provides important context for everyday spam and scam behavior. Unwanted calls and texts may feel like routine annoyances, but they are part of a much larger ecosystem of fraud, phishing, impersonation, and identity-driven attacks.
The study found that spam avoidance is already disrupting important communication. Two-thirds of Americans, or 66%, said they have missed an important call because they ignored or screened out an unknown number. A third, or 33%, said they have missed a call from a doctor, hospital, or healthcare provider as a result.
Other missed calls included employers or recruiters, cited by 18% of respondents; pharmacies or insurance providers, cited by 16%; financial institutions, cited by 15%; and government agencies, cited by 9%. Another 4% said they had missed a call related to a family emergency because of spam avoidance.
Unknown numbers are now widely treated as suspicious by default. More than a quarter of Americans, or 27%, said they never answer calls from unknown numbers. Another 23% let these calls go to voicemail, while 21% assume unknown calls are spam and ignore them completely. Altogether, around 8 in 10 Americans rarely or never answer calls or texts from numbers they do not recognize.
The privacy consequences are also significant. More than half of Americans, or 55%, said they refuse to give out their real phone number on social media. Others said they avoid sharing their real number while online shopping, on dating apps, when joining rewards programs, on LinkedIn, while booking travel, or when using financial services.
The study found that 33% of Americans refuse to give out their real phone number for online shopping, while 30% do so on dating apps. More than 1 in 4, or 26%, avoid sharing their number for loyalty or rewards programs, and nearly 1 in 4, or 24%, avoid doing so on LinkedIn.
Many Americans are also taking direct steps to reduce spam exposure. More than half of respondents, or 53%, said they protect themselves by enabling their phone carrier’s spam-filtering feature. Another 43% said they avoid giving out their real phone number online, while 41% have registered on the Do Not Call Registry.
Still, Americans remain skeptical of centralized data-sharing solutions. When given a list of 15 major carriers, technology companies, and government agencies, 42% said they trust none of them to responsibly handle their personal phone data.
Even the most-trusted entity, the Do Not Call Registry, was trusted by fewer than 1 in 4 Americans, at 23%. Verizon and the federal government followed at 13% each, while the FCC and Apple were selected by 12% each. This trust gap presents a challenge for any spam-reduction system that depends on consumers sharing more identity data.
The trade-off becomes clear when Americans are asked whether they would exchange personal information for fewer spam calls. More than a third of Americans, or 36%, said they would opt into a system requiring their carrier to share their ID with a federal database in exchange for an 80% reduction in spam calls.
Gen Z was the most willing generation to make that trade, with 39% saying they would opt in. Baby boomers were the most resistant, with 33% saying no outright. Even when the promised reduction climbed to 95%, 1 in 4 Americans said they still would not share any personal information.
The findings suggest that spam has created a privacy tax for everyday consumers. Americans are missing important calls, withholding contact information, relying on spam filters, and making difficult decisions about whether reducing unwanted contact is worth giving up more identity data.
For organizations, the implications extend beyond consumer annoyance. Phishing emails, social media messages, spam texts, and impersonation attempts increasingly exploit trusted communication channels. As people become less willing to answer, engage, or share accurate contact information, businesses may face more friction reaching customers, patients, applicants, and account holders.
The solution is not to ask people to surrender more personal data by default. Instead, consumers and organizations should focus on minimizing unnecessary data exposure, using privacy-protective tools, and building systems that do not rely on permanent personal identifiers being shared everywhere.
As cybercrime losses climb and spam fatigue deepens, phone number privacy should become part of the broader conversation around digital safety, identity protection, and online trust. Spam calls and texts may seem like everyday background noise, but the findings suggest they are contributing to a larger challenge: Americans are losing confidence in the channels they rely on most.
Key findings include:
- Americans receive an average of 16 spam calls and 9 spam texts per month.
- 66% of Americans have missed an important call because they ignored or screened out an unknown number.
- 33% have missed a call from a doctor, hospital, or healthcare provider because of spam avoidance.
- Around 8 in 10 Americans rarely or never answer calls or texts from numbers they do not recognize.
- Phishing emails ranked as the most convincing spam format, selected by 40% of Americans.
- Phishing emails ranked as the spam format most likely to cause accidental engagement, selected by 32% of Americans.
- 55% of Americans refuse to give out their real phone number on social media.
- 42% of Americans do not trust any major phone carrier, tech company, or government agency from the survey list to responsibly handle their personal phone data.
- 36% of Americans would opt into federal identity verification in exchange for an 80% reduction in spam calls.
- Even with a promised 95% reduction in spam, 25% of Americans would still refuse to share any personal information.
- Reported cybercrime losses filed with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center surpassed $20 billion for the first time in 2025.
- Reported cybercrime losses increased by 26% from 2024 to 2025.
- The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received 1,008,597 cybercrime complaints in 2025.
- Reported cybercrime losses were more than 1,170 times higher in 2025 than in 2001.
- Cybercrime complaints filed with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center increased by 1,929% from 2001 to 2025.
Learn More at https://www.cloaked.com/
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