Scam calls around the world
Robocalls are scamming billions out of private citizens. Of course, they wouldn’t have been able to defraud that staggering amount of money if they couldn’t make an equally staggering number of calls: 31 billion spam calls, to be exact.
A data analysis back in 2019 has suggested that in one day, a group of spam callers were able to make 140 million spam calls in one day. These kinds of calls are known as robocalls, which are made by a central computer dialling thousands of numbers in an hour. If someone picks up, the computer then transfers him or her to either the automated service made by the group, or to their group of “telemarketers” that they employ.
There are many ways unwanted callers make money out of their victims, and almost all of them involve deception. Pretending to be a government agency or a legitimate company that asks for their personal details, requiring the victim to pay a certain amount for a particular service or product that spam callers pretend to provide or sell – these are some of the most common methods spam callers defraud phone subscribers. It’s also not unlikely for them to defraud businesses as well, especially smaller ones, using the same means.
COVID-19, has had an impact on everything in the world, and spam callers are not exempt. While the pandemic has initially affected them negatively around March and April, they managed to pick back up around May, and even had a record high in the number of calls – higher than before the lockdown – around October. This has been the general trend across the globe. To give you an overview of the spam call statistics around the world, here’s a list per continent of the most spammed countries.
Europe
Last year saw a significant increase in spam calls for Hungary making it the top spammed country in Europe. Scam calls make up a serious 40% of their top spammers. This is since the country is experiencing national and regional unrest with some political operators manipulating this situation. A significant increase in spam calls had put Poland in the list of most spammed countries in the world and in Europe, placing at second after Hungary. Spain saw an increase in their spam calls mainly from telemarketers and operators. This sharp increase made them the third most spammed country in Europe. Aside from the scam calls, statistics show an alarming increase for COVID-19 related scams, a potentially dangerous scam for their residents.
UK
The UK also saw a growing trend of scammers exploiting the pandemic. The scam lures residents into believing that they have been infected by COVID, convincing them to be tested immediately. This results in the victims sharing their credit card numbers to pay for a fake testing schedule. Despite a small population, Ukraine is one of the top most spammed countries in the world. Financial services that upsell their plans and some cold callers, makes up the majority of their scam calls.
Germany
The 6th most spammed country in Europe with telemarketing spam calls inconveniencing their residents. What’s very alarming in these spam calls are the type of scam being done such as the COVID-19 related scams, the infamous One Ring Scam and various other schemes that defraud German citizens. Both Romania and Greece top spammers are from the telemarketing and operators. Around 19% of their spam calls are scam related. Lastly, Belgium joins the list for top spammed countries in Europe with a growing problem in Robocalls that makes up more than half of their spam calls.
Latin America
Brazil once again takes the top spot for the most spammed country in Latin America and the world. Their spam distribution with scam calls doubled from 26% to 48% since last year. Financial-related spam calls upselling credit cards became trendy among scam calls, along with loans and insurance plans.
Next to Brazil is Chile. Robocalls, a completely new trend in Chile, had been a top spamming category in their country. Although there is a slight decrease in their overall spam calls compared with the previous years, their country remains in the top 10 worldwide. Mexico on the other hand saw a significant decrease in their overall spam calls last year. Financial services and debt collector groups are their top spammers. Peru experienced a drastic deadline on their overall spam calls, from being the second-most spammed country in the world, they were not even in the top 10 last year. Their operator calls share the biggest increase in spam calls. Colombia saw a dramatic decrease in their overall spam report. This is largely in part to a decline in spam calls from the financial sector.
North America
The USA was the second-most spammed country in the world last year. Scam calls and robocalls continue to be both a threat and a nuisance to the Americans. Various reports had been conducted into how many dollars were lost to these spam calls.
Asia
Indonesia tops the list for the most spammed country in Asia. Although there was a steep decline for spam calls last year, they are still troubled by upsells from the financial services sector. Meanwhile, a certain type of scam involving OTP is emerging in India, the second-most spammed country in Asia. It involves divulging sensitive information usually about financials that ultimately makes the receiver give up their OTP which the scammers use to access bank accounts or even digital wallets. The last country to be included in this list is Vietnam. Majority of their scam calls came from their financial services.
Europe/Asia
Russian scam calls still pose a threat to its citizens. One of their common scam calls is someone pretending to represent a bank and coax people to share sensitive information.
Africa
A prominent runner-up in this list from the previous years, South Africa managed to drop down places. Their spam calls have decreased, and it continued its nosedive specifically during the lockdown last year.
How to prevent unwanted calls?
If you get unexpected calls from banks, insurances, or from finance people asking for your personal information, its highly likely these are scams. To avoid this, always keep in mind that companies will never ask for sensitive data from you. It’s also best to hang up the phone immediately if you feel that the call is suspicious.
Lastly, you can use a call blocker like the CPR V5000 to avoid calls like this. The CPR V5000 can block unsolicited numbers at a touch of a button and is also pre-programmed to block 5,000 nuisance numbers provided by the FCC. It is compatible in most US homes and is proven to greatly reduce spam calls.
CPR V5000 Call Blocker for landlines