South Africa sees big increase of spam calls following ease of lockdown

This year, you may have noticed a marked increase in spam or robocalls. These frustrating calls leave you unlikely to answer an unknown caller.

Truecaller Insights report identified South Africa as the 17th most spammed country globally. However this is an improvement, as 2019 saw the country sitting at number 6. 

Users are on average receiving 11.3 spam calls a month compared to 25.2 spam calls from last year’s report. This is the first time in three years these calls have decreased. 

This still puts South Africa in the Top 20 countries for spam calling. As you are likely to have guessed, insurance and scam calls make up the highest percentage of calls received. 

So no, it's not just you who is being hounded by insurance companies.

Lockdown slump 

Truecaller's report highlight how spam calls took a dive during lockdown. Between March and April there was a 59% decrease in calls.

This wasn't to last for long though as April to October saw a 191% increase as lockdown restrictions eased and everyone went back to work. 

Not only did these calls bounce back, they did so at even greater force. Truecaller noted a 17% increase in calls when comparing October to pre-lockdown.