Despite ongoing initiatives by mobile carriers, regulatory bodies, operating system developers, and smartphone manufacturers, unwanted and fraudulent calls continued to plague individuals globally throughout the year – and the situation actually worsened.

Worldwide, users encountered 31.3 billion spam calls from January to October of this year, a rise from 26 billion during the equivalent timeframe last year, and 17.7 billion the year before, as reported by Stockholm-based Truecaller.

The company, widely recognized for its caller identification application, calculated that the typical American received 28.4 spam calls monthly this year, an increase from 18.2 last year. Brazil, with an average of 49.9 spam calls per user each month – up from 45.6 the previous year – remained the country most heavily impacted by these calls, according to the firm’s annual report on the topic.

However, the coronavirus pandemic led to a reduction in the number of spam calls experienced by users in certain regions, including India, which previously held the top position on Truecaller’s list of most affected nations three years ago. This year, India fell to ninth place on the list, receiving 16.8 monthly spam calls per user, a decrease from 25.6 last year. It is Truecaller’s largest market.

“Spam calls reached their lowest point in April, coinciding with the implementation of strict curfews and lockdowns globally. The total volume of calls also decreased during this period. However, from that point onward, reports emerged of scammers exploiting the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic. In May, spam calls began to increase again, and have been growing at an average rate of 9.7% per month. October saw a record high in terms of spam calls, representing a 22.4% increase compared to the pre-lockdown period.”

Further observations from the report include:

• Spammers, like many others, tended to take time off during weekends.
• The top 10 countries most affected last year were largely from South America. This year, Chile, Peru, and Colombia have experienced a reduction in spam calls.
• Several European countries – Hungary, Poland, Spain, the U.K., Ukraine, Germany, Romania, Greece, and Belgium – unfortunately appeared on the list.
• The most significant increases in spam calls originated from Europe and the U.S. – Hungary saw the largest jump (1,132%), followed by Germany (685%), Belgium (557%), and Romania (395%).
• Indonesia (18.3), India (16.8), Vietnam (14.7), and Russia (14.3) were the Asian countries most affected by spam calls.
• A rise in scam calls and robocalls worldwide led to an increased proportion of these types of calls among the most common spam categories. Scammers capitalizing on the pandemic contributed to the increase in scam calls.

Beyond being a nuisance, these calls are also used to defraud people of their money. Approximately 56 million Americans reported being victims of phone scams this year, resulting in an estimated loss of $19.7 billion, according to a previous Truecaller report.

Avoiding these calls can be challenging in some areas, as legitimate organizations – including telecom companies and banks – are themselves responsible for making a substantial number of them, the report indicated. For example, around 9% of all spam calls received in the U.S. originated from telecom networks, according to the report.