Truecaller claims India ranks in 9th spam position

Truecaller reports say that Indian mobile users saw a 34 per cent decline in spam calls received in 2020, helping the country move lower to the ninth position in the tally of most spammed countries. Within India, Gujarat received the most spam calls in 2020.

Previous year in 2019, India was at the fifth position in terms of number of spam calls received by users. This year, India has dropped down to ninth position, while Brazil continues to stay on top, Truecaller said in its report.

Despite stepping down in spam calls, India still makes it into the top 10 most spammed countries, it added.

Other countries in the top 10 tally are the US, Hungary, Polen (Poland), Spain, Indonesia, the UK, Ukraine and Chile.

The Swedish company - which is known for helping users find out caller identity - has over 250 million users globally, of which over 180 million users are in India.

The report also said operators continue to be the top spammers in India with 52 per cent user calls received for the up selling of various offers and reminders. Telemarketing services accounted for 34 per cent share, followed by scam (9 per cent) and financial services (5 per cent).

Gujarat emerged as the state that received the most spam calls in 2020, followed by Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, it added. The report further pointed out that 8 out of 10 women in India receive sexual harassment or inappropriate calls and SMS regularly.

Truecaller claims spam had reached its lowest point in April when strict curfews and lockdowns were implemented worldwide. The overall volume of calls also dipped during this period.

However, from this point, reports of scammers taking advantage of the uncertainty around the pandemic emerged. In May, spam calls started to pick up again and have been increasing on average by 9.7 per cent per month, it said.

"October this year was the record high in terms of spam calls. It was 22.4 per cent higher compared to pre-lockdown," it added.

The biggest increase in spam calls was seen in the US and Europe - where Hungary saw the biggest jump (1,132 per cent), followed by Germany (685 per cent), Belgium (557 per cent) and Romania (395 per cent).