Truecaller: Spam calls in Malaysia increased by 24% in 2019

Truecaller, the mobile app that helps to block unwanted calls has revealed some interesting stats on the spam calls and SMS situation in Malaysia. According to their insights, the number of spam calls has increased by 24% this year and we are currently ranked #19 in the top 20 countries affected by spam calls in 2019.

Truecaller claims to have a million daily active users in Malaysia that have received more than 90 million spam calls so far in 2019 which has been blocked by the app. In 2018, an average user receives 6.7 spam calls per month while in 2019, the average number of spam calls received is 8.3.

Based on their analysis, Malaysia has the biggest percentage of scam calls in the world. 63% of spam calls are categorised as fraudulent. According to Truecaller, fake insurance and debt collecting calls are normal, while “Astro” and Macau scams have been flooding the local market in the recent year.

They added there are scammers pretending to be calling from local post-delivery companies, claiming that your package is stuck and payment is required in order to release the item.

Globally, the countries with the most spam calls are Brazil with an average of 45.6 spam calls per month, followed by Peru with 30.9 spam calls per month and Indonesia with 27.9 spam calls per month. In 2019, Truecaller has helped users block and identify 26 billion spam calls worldwide and this is an increase of 18% versus the previous year. They have also helped users identify 116 billion unknown calls, which is a 56% increase compared to last year.

In terms of SMS, Malaysia currently ranks at #15 with average users receiving 24 spam SMS each month. The worst country is Ethiopia that has an average of 119 spam SMS received per month by each user.

You can read the full report here.

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