DENVER — Colorado is still getting 27 million unwanted robocalls every month, and the scammers behind them are walking away with more money than ever before, according to the Colorado Public Interest Research Group.
Denver7 has been following phone and text scams for years. In July 2025, John Clark was tricked into giving away $3,000 as part of a romance scam.
"He was gonna take care of me and it was going to be a lifelong team. I shared that I had general onset Parkinsons which maybe gave him more ammunition, if you will," Clark said.
See how others have fallen victim to scams in the video below:
In April 2025, Clint Bales thought he received a real text from the state to pay his E-470 express lane ticket.
"Up came the information about my truck, that it was a 1500 Pickup. My license plate number is this. They had that. This passes the sniff test for me, I’m going to go ahead and pay this fine," Bales said.
In 2021, federal regulations — including requiring caller ID verification — were put in place to curb these scams. The number of scam calls has dropped modestly across the country from 2.8 billion per month, according to COPIRG, the Colorado Public Interest Research Group.
"The bad news: We're still getting 2.1 billion unwanted spam and scam robocalls per month," said Danny Katz, the consumer watchdog's executive director.
Katz said scammers are getting more money than ever — up to an average of $4,000 per successful robocall scam and $2,000 per successful text — thanks, in part, to new technology.
"AI makes it easier to spoof people's voices. It makes it easier to make robo texts or robocalls seem more authentic," Katz said.
He said only 42% of phone companies have implemented mandatory robocall-fighting technology, and he wants the FCC's Robocall Response Team to hold them accountable.
"The attorney generals have done a pretty good job of taking action. The legislature can do a little bit more work, but really, we're going to need our federal administration to do more. They have the tools, and it doesn't feel like they're using them as aggressively as they can," Katz said.
In the meantime, Coloradans should be on the lookout — the state is still getting 27 million unwanted robocalls per month, according to COPIRG.
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