In 2019 they have been able to help users block and identify 26 billion spam calls, which is an increase of 18% compared to 2018. Furthermore, they helped identify 116 billion unknown calls, which is a 56% increase compared to 2018.

Who are the top spam callers in South Africa?

South Africa is ranked number six in the Top 20 countries affected by spam calls and sms. Brazil overtook India as the most spammed country in the world, and this year’s data shows that Brazil is still on top. As a matter of fact, spam calls have been increasing for Brazilians ever since.

The top 5 markets to receive the most scam calls in the world is Malaysia with 63%, Australia with 60%, Lebanon with 49%, Canada with 48% and South Africa with 39%.

Data shows that the top countries that receive the most spam SMS are in the emerging markets. The top three markets that are affected are on the African continent. Ethiopians receives the most spam SMS in the world, with an average of 119 spam SMS on a monthly basis.

Scam calls continue to be a big threat for consumers in South Africa as t the most common scams are:

• Tech support fraud: Where someone pretends to call from your bank or a company saying that your account has been hijacked and needs your help to take control of it.
• One ring scam: An unknown number (usually an international number) gives you a missed call and when you call them back you get charged a hefty fee for calling to that number.
• Job offer scam: Someone pretends to be a headhunter calling you to offer you a job but you need to pay a fee in order to get the job.

Insurance-related calls have seen a big uptake in South Africa. There have been complaints about insurance companies calling people to upsell car insurance or scammers calling pretending that your car has been towed away and that you need to pay a fee to get it back.