Robocalls are the top U.S. consumer complaint. Here's how California and tech companies are fighting back.

How many spam calls have you gotten so far today? Unwanted robocalls are Americans' number one consumer complaint, and that has CBS News California investigative correspondent Julie Watts asking: What's being done to stop them?

Whether they're pushing payday loans, sketchy charities or they're just a straight-up scam, robocalls aren't just annoying. If that automated voice is asking you for money, odds are that it's illegal.

Once a world traveler working on development projects for the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, Julie Heifetz feels like her new full-time project is fielding spam calls.

"I get so many. I say, 'Damn it, it's another robocall!' " Heifetz said.

In 2010, we first asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) why putting your number on a do-not-call list didn't seem to work.

Well, today, it is worse. During the first nine months of 2025, there were 40.8 billion robocalls, according to data from YouMail, a visual voicemail and spam blocking service. That's up 5% from the same period last year.

Most violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which makes it illegal to make unsolicited automated or pre-recorded calls.

"It's still happening because it's really hard to track these people down," said Matt Mizenko with Nomorobo, one of a growing number of companies that deploy technology to help consumers block unwanted calls. "They're using all sorts of new technology all the time. They're very creative."