Truecaller reveals India ranks No 5 in global spam call ranking, has seen a 15% increase in number of spam calls in 2019

• The third editon of Truecaller’s Insights Report that listed the Top 20 Countries Affected by Spam Calls in 2019 revealed India has dropped to the fifth position from third in terms of number of spam calls received in 2019.
• Spam calls received by users in India has continued to increase to 25.6 calls per user/month.
• About 10% of spam calls came from financial service providers, a category that was not listed in the report last year.
• India ranked 8th in terms of spam SMS wherein users received an average of 61 spam SMS every month.

Truecaller, in its annual Insights Report on The Top Countries Affected by Spam Calls has revealed that despite dropping down to the fifth position in terms of number of spam calls received by users globally, India has witnessed a 15% upsurge in the number of spam calls from the previous year.

According to the report, spam calls received by users in India has continued to increase to 25.6 calls per user/month. About 10% of spam calls came from financial service providers, a category that was not listed in the report last year.

Operators continue to be the top spammers in India with over 67% user calls received for upselling of various offers and reminders. However, with the rise of mobile payment systems and a growing middle economic class in the country, the study has witnessed banks and fintech-based organizations and telemarketing services emerging as big spammers, recording 10% and 17% respectively.

The report has also looked at the trends of spam SMS around the world and indexed the top 20 countries that receive the most spam SMS. The data shows that spam messages are primarily received in emerging regions. India ranked at 8th position wherein users received an average of 61 spam SMS every month. The top three markets that are affected by this form of spam were in the African continent.

Speaking to Ad & Media Insider about the findings of the report, Sandeep Patil, Managing Director, Truecaller said, “Spam calls and messages continue to grow rapidly and plague the daily lives of people around the world. In 2019 alone, Truecaller has been able to block and identify 26 billion spam calls and additionally identify 116 billion spam calls across the globe. At 25.6 spam calls per user per month, spam is becoming more of a nuisance for India and rising at an alarming rate. At Truecaller, we have always strived to provide our users with the best experience across all modes of communication and combat the issue of spam. By solving some fundamental communication problems for our users, we are confident that we can build a simple, safe and spam-free community for all Indians.”

Earlier in the year, Truecaller had also released a report during International Women’s Day that had revealed that 1 out of every 3 woman in India receive sexual and inappropriate calls or SMS regularly.