Robocall numbers surging

Do you feel like you’re getting more and more of those annoying robocalls — those telephone solicitations with a recorded voice that always seem to come at dinnertime? Don’t think you’re alone. Consumers took 2.59 billion of the calls in July, a 2.7 percent increase over June and a 7.5 percent jump from July 2016, bringing the total to 17.2 billion robocalls received nationwide in the first seven months of the year.

And Utah is right up there with the worst of them — answering 16.4 percent more junk calls in July than in June. Vermont posted the biggest month-over-month increase in robocalls for any state in July, rising 18 percent over June. Other states notching big gains in July included Oregon with a 14.9 percent increase and Idaho with an 11.6 percent jump.