Truecaller reveals the top spam callers in South Africa

Spam calls are part of daily life for most with a cell phone in South Africa, but which industry is most responsible for making them?

These statistics and more were this week provided by Scandinavian company Truecaller, best known for its spam alert and management app.

For Truecaller, South Africa has become an integral market. It’s where the company is experiencing its fastest growth (120%) on the African continent, and boasts around 3.2-million users.

With that growth and user pool stems some interesting statistics regarding spam calls in the country.

South Africa ranks fifth on its list of countries most affected by spam calls in 2017. Only India (22.6 spam calls per user per month), the USA (20.7), Brazil (20.7) and Chile (17.4) rank above it (15).

Nigeria (ranking 9th, 10.4 spam calls per user per month), Egypt (10th, 9.9) and Kenya (20th, 7.7) also feature in the top 20.

As for the time of day when South Africans are most affected by spam calls, Truecaller customers reportedly experience spikes between 10am and 12am, with another spike at 3pm.

Spam takes a notable dip during lunch hours and again afterhours.

But which industries are most to blame?

Telemarketers (39%), financial services (24%) and insurance companies (13%) are responsible for more than three-quarters of all spam calls placed in South Africa.

“Nuisance” calls, operator dials and debt collectors constitute a further 20%.

All images: Truecaller