2025 figures: phone spam reaches record levels in France
Before analysing seasonal variations, one fact stands out: phone spam in France has reached historic levels. According to the annual J'Alerte l'ARCEP report published in February 2026, 70,516 reports were filed on the platform in 2025, a 23% increase compared to 2024.
Of these reports, 23,383 concerned unsolicited calls and messages, making it the second-largest source of complaints on the platform (behind fibre optic issues). Even more striking: this category surged by +1,052% since 2023, illustrating an unprecedented acceleration.
ARCEP's Customer Satisfaction Observatory confirms the scale of the problem: 94% of consumers reported experiencing at least one unsolicited contact over the previous three months, and 89% of mobile phone owners received fraudulent or unwanted calls (up from 85% the previous year). Caller ID spoofing exploded with a +123% increase between 2024 and 2025.
Globally, the trend follows the same trajectory. According to Hiya's Global Call Threat Report Q1 2025, unwanted calls rose from 11.3 billion in Q4 2024 to 12.5 billion in Q1 2025. In the United States, the YouMail Robocall Index recorded 52.5 billion robocalls for 2025. But these aggregate figures mask a more nuanced reality: phone spam fluctuates significantly depending on the time of year. Understanding these cycles is key for professionals tracking spam statistics in France.
The phone spam calendar: a month-by-month analysis
January-February: the post-holiday spike
The start of the year is one of the most intense periods for phone spam. Several factors converge to create a peak in reports.
First, the commercial new year and winter sales trigger massive prospecting campaigns. Companies launch their annual targets and call centres operate at full capacity. Then, winter brings a surge in energy-related scams: fake heating bill discounts, solar panel fraud, aggressive insulation cold-calling. Hiya's Q1 2025 report confirms this trend, noting an increase in "energy and electricity-provider scams" at the start of the year across Europe.
Finally, New Year's resolutions prompt many consumers to switch health insurance, home insurance or energy providers, attracting prospectors. Annual contract renewals concentrated in early January amplify the phenomenon further.
March-April: the tax sprint and spring awakening
Spring brings its own wave of solicitations. The tax filing period (online service opens in April) traditionally generates waves of phone scams: fake tax authority calls, CPF (Personal Training Account) cold-calling and fraudulent tax optimisation offers.
It's also the start of the energy renovation season. With warmer weather returning, prospecting campaigns for MaPrimeRénov', loft insulation and heat pump installation ramp up. This sector is one of the hardest hit by abusive spam reports linked to energy renovation.
Spring property market activity also contributes: estate agencies launch their phone prospecting campaigns, increasing overall outbound call volumes.
May-August: the relative summer lull
The summer period is generally the calmest for telemarketing. Summer holidays reduce both call centre activity and consumer availability. Answer rates naturally drop, making campaigns less profitable.
However, spam doesn't disappear entirely. Travel and booking scams take over: fake holiday offers, impersonation of booking platforms, fraudulent calls about flight tickets. Seasonal recruitment also generates phone campaigns, some of which are fraudulent — Hiya identified employment scams in 2025 that start with a robocall from a fake HR department, which became the 4th most common scam in France.
September-October: the explosive back-to-school period
The September return is, along with January, the most pronounced peak of the year for phone spam. The end of summer holidays triggers a genuine wave of commercial prospecting.
Health insurance companies and insurers launch their most aggressive campaigns: the annual cancellation deadline (typically 31 December, with two months' notice) forces prospecting from September onwards. Telecom operators multiply back-to-school offers (broadband, mobile plans, fibre optic). And the energy sector anticipates winter with contract proposals ahead of rising demand.
For legitimate call centres, September-October is the period when competition for phone attention is fiercest. The massive volume of calls — both legitimate and fraudulent — increases pressure on carrier spam filters.
November-December: Black Friday and year-end targets
The final quarter combines several aggravating factors. Black Friday and Cyber Monday (late November) trigger a spike in parcel and delivery scams. Hiya reports confirm that "package delivery scams" and "Amazon scams" dominate Q4 every year, exploiting the surge in online orders.
The last weeks to switch health insurance (before 31 December) generate maximum commercial pressure. And annual sales targets push sales teams to accelerate their pace to close out the year, mechanically increasing outbound call volumes — and the resulting reports.
Why this seasonality? The underlying mechanisms
Phone spam seasonality is driven by the convergence of three distinct dynamics.
The commercial calendar. Legitimate businesses plan their campaigns around peak commercial periods (sales, back-to-school, year-end). This commercial pressure increases overall call volumes, overloading filters and generating more reports — including for legitimate calls.
Regulatory cycles. Contract cancellation deadlines (health insurance, home insurance, telecom providers), tax filing periods and administrative deadlines create windows of opportunity that prospecting exploits on a massive scale.
Fraudster mimicry. Scammers model their campaigns on legitimate events. They know consumers expect calls from their insurer in September or their delivery service in December. This technique, combined with the explosion of caller ID spoofing (+123% in 2025 according to ARCEP), makes detection more difficult. According to Hiya, 1 in 4 calls now contains AI-generated audio, and 55% of these calls are identified as fraudulent.
The impact on legitimate call centres
For telemarketing professionals, spam seasonality has direct, measurable consequences.
More aggressive spam filters. During peak periods, carriers and blocking apps (Truecaller, Hiya, Orange Téléphone) tighten their algorithms. The result: legitimate calls are more likely to be mistakenly flagged as "suspected spam". According to ARCEP, 52% of French people are registered on Bloctel and 38% have installed a call-blocking app on their smartphone.
Plummeting answer rates. When consumers receive more unwanted calls, they become warier and answer less. Every point of answer rate lost represents a potential loss of tens of thousands of euros per month for a call centre.
More fragile phone reputation. During peak periods, just a few additional reports can tip a number into "suspect" territory. The slightest mistake — call volume too high, poor timing, lack of clear identification — can trigger rapid blacklisting.
Anticipating peaks: strategies for professionals
Understanding spam seasonality allows you to adapt your strategy to protect your numbers and maintain performance.
1. Map your own risk calendar. Identify the periods when your sector faces the most pressure. For insurance, it's September-December. For energy, it's January-March and September-November. For property, it's March-June. Adjust your call volumes accordingly.
2. Strengthen monitoring during critical periods. During peaks, switch from weekly to daily reputation monitoring of your numbers. Use automatic phone reputation monitoring tools to detect reports within the first hours.
3. Diversify channels as a complement. During periods of phone saturation, supplement your campaigns with SMS, email or messaging (WhatsApp Business) to maintain contact without overloading the voice channel.
4. Adjust volumes and timing. Reduce the number of calls per line during peak periods to avoid triggering anti-spam algorithm thresholds. Favour less saturated time slots (early morning rather than the traditional 2-4pm window).
5. Prepare a rotation plan in advance. Before predictable peaks (back-to-school, year-end), build a reserve of "warm" numbers (properly warmed up with a good reputation) so you can switch quickly if a number gets flagged.
