WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Trade Commission today released the National Do Not Call Registry Data Book for Fiscal Year 2012. In its fourth year of publication, the book contains, among other things, trends in complaint data.

The book also contains the number of active registrations and consumer complaints since the registry began in 2003. It also collects that data by month and by state.

According to the Data Book, at the end of fiscal year 2012, the Do Not Call Registry contained 217,568,135 actively registered phone numbers, up from 209,722,924 at the end of fiscal year 2011. In addition, the number of consumer complaints about unwanted telemarketing calls received increased from more than 2.27 million during last fiscal year to more than 3.84 million.

This year’s Data Book also reveals trends in complaint data. In addition to providing information on the total number of consumer complaints per month, it also contains data on the number of monthly complaints specifically related to pre-recorded telemarketing “robocalls,” and requests for a telemarketer to stop calling. 

During the past year, the FTC has continued to receive large numbers of consumer complaints about robocalls. At the beginning of the fiscal year, in October 2011, the FTC received 149,363 robocall-related complaints. This increased through March 2012, when the agency received 216,338 complaints about robocalls, and has remained at about that level since, with 201,699 complaints received in September 2012.

Most telemarketing robocalls have been illegal since September 2009. The FTC remains committed to stopping the practice and said it will take action against entities violating the agency’s Telemarketing Sales Rule.