Truecaller, the world’s leading global communications platform, released its first Monthly U.S. Spam and Scam Report highlighting fraudulent call trends. The findings show the types of spam and scam calls users receive, states that receive the most spam and scam calls, the average number of spam calls users receive per month, and more. The initial report compiles data from November 2022 to October 2023 and will be updated on a monthly basis with real-time data and trends on Truecaller’s website.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231128442222/en/
The volume of spam calls & messages, Nov 22 to Oct 23 – Truecaller data (Graphic: Business Wire)
According to Truecaller, Americans receive an average of 2.1 billion spam calls per month, with nearly six spam calls per person per month, each lasting over four minutes. Throughout 2023, Americans wasted approximately 195 million hours answering these incoming calls. Every year, these numbers peak during the holidays, with scams such as charity donations, fake deliveries, and vacation upgrades. With AI, scammers have more tools than ever to easily target victims and impersonate voices of loved ones, authority figures, and government officials.
Types of U.S. Spam and Scam Calls:
Scam calls with malicious intent seem to make up the majority of all unwanted communication while others include real sales calls, robocalls from real companies, online surveys, and political calls. The report found that the majority of scams in 2023 were related to credit card fraud, identity theft, medicare/insurance, social security, car warranty, and debt collection.
States that Receive the Most Spam and Scam Calls per user, per month:
Note: States are ordered from most to least spam and scam calls with respect to state population.
|
State |
Average Estimated Spam Calls over 12 months |
Estimated Spam Calls – Oct 23 |
|
1. Mississippi |
29,987,385 |
31,538,494 |
|
2. South Carolina |
57,015,634 |
52,468,248 |
|
3. Oklahoma |
34,337,610 |
39,338,243 |
|
4. Arkansas |
29,528,255 |
25,887,405 |
|
5. Alabama |
44,094,416 |
38,630,532 |
|
6. Georgia |
87,061,185 |
88,072,654 |
|
7. Missouri |
48,258,662 |
46,219,462 |
|
8. Louisiana |
40,733,114 |
35,572,353 |
|
9. Texas |
238,392,556 |
232,319,494 |
|
10. Montana |
7,696,078 |
8,347,096 |
States/Territories that Receive the Least Spam and Scam Calls per user, per month:
Note: States are ordered from least to most spam and scam calls with respect to state population.
|
State |
Average Estimated Spam Calls over 12 months |
Estimated Spam Calls – Oct 23 |
|
1. Hawaii |
6,271,60 |
4,223,139 |
|
2. New Hampshire |
5,693,643 |
4,782,293 |
|
3. Puerto Rico |
9,446,64 |
10,945,480 |
|
4. Massachusetts |
22,908,68 |
21,058,23 |
|
5. Washington |
28,787,320 |
25,757,75 |
Top Countries Where Spam and Scam Calls Originate from:
Truecaller unveils that an average of nearly 10% of spam calls received by Americans originates outside the U.S. and are mostly from India, Nigeria, Egypt, Colombia, Canada, and Peru.
“Fraudsters are targeting consumers through every medium on their phones, deploying sophisticated AI-powered scams via calls, texts, emails and direct messages on social media.” said Alan Mamedi, co-founder and CEO, Truecaller. “With our new monthly data report, our goal is to inform U.S. smartphone users about modern-day scams on the rise and which markets are experiencing the most scams, so people can protect themselves. Truecaller has a long-standing mission to build trust in communication, and this monthly report reflects our commitment to that mission.”
The Monthly U.S. Spam and Scam Report will be updated on the 5th of every month with new data from the previous month.
Methodology
All spam and scam statistics and information are based on proprietary, anonymized data, specific to Truecaller users residing in the United States over the past 12 months. The numbers are projected against U.S. Govt census data. This includes the adult U.S. population with data-connected smartphones who have installed Truecaller. These are Truecaller estimates and may not precisely reflect the actual numbers.
About Truecaller
Truecaller enables safe and relevant conversations between people to make it efficient for businesses to connect with consumers. Fraud and unwanted communication are endemic to digital economies, especially in emerging markets. Truecaller is on a mission to build trust in communication. Truecaller is an essential part of everyday communication for over 368 million active users, with more than a billion downloads since launch and close to 50 billion unwanted calls identified and blocked in 2022. Headquartered in Stockholm, since 2009, it is a co-founder-led, entrepreneurial company, with a highly experienced management team. Truecaller has been listed on Nasdaq Stockholm since 8 October 2021. For more information, please visit Corporate.truecaller.com. To download Truecaller, visit the Apple App Store for iOS or Google Play for Android.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231128442222/en/