Nigeria among top 20 countries affected by spam calls, SMS globally

AGAIN, Nigeria has ranked among the top 20 countries affected by spam calls and SMSES globally, a recent report by Truecaller has revealed.

According to the study, the average Truecaller user in Nigeria receives 8.4 spam calls per month, which is 20 per cent higher than last year.

But despite the menace, information obtained by The Guardian from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) revealed that about 22 million Nigerians have activated the Do-not-disturb (DND) initiative to control spam calls, unsolicited text messages, among others.

Truecaller revealed that this year, Brazil topped the list, with the average Truecaller user receiving 45.6 spam calls monthly. Brazil is followed by Peru and Indonesia at 30.9 and 27.9 spam calls respectively. This report had countries in North and South America dominating the list. They were: Mexico, Chile,

USA, Colombia and Canada. The other continent which featured prominently was Asia, parading countries like Indonesia, India, UAE, Sri Lanka, Israel, Lebanon and Malaysia. Besides Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt were the other African countries affected by spam calls, with the latter having the least record of spam calls in 2019.

For spam SMSES, Nigeria ranked seventh among the top 20 countries affected. The average Truecaller user in Nigeria received 65 spam SMS per month. However, Ethiopia came tops with the average Truecaller user receiving 119 spam SMS per month, followed by South Africa with 114 and Kenya with 102 spam SMS monthly.

In all, nine countries in Africa and nine countries in Asia dominated the list of recipients of spam SMS. Brazil and Colombia were the only American countries on the list.

Truecaller users in Ghana received the least number of spam SMS.

Of the spam calls and SMS received monthly by Truecaller users in Nigeria, 12% were scams. Calls and messages from operators made up 85 per cent and telemarketing accounted for only 3% of spam calls and SMS.

Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates (UAE and Egypt had the bulk of spams from operators with such calls and SMS totaling 81 per cent, 84 per cent and 74 per cent respectively.

In Malaysia, Australia and Lebanon, scams accounted for 63 per cent, 60 per cent and 49 per cent of spammers, while Israel had the most spam from political calls.

In South Africa, majority of the spammers came from scam calls and SMS, totaling 39 per cent.