Truecaller Reveals the Statistics on Spam and Scam Calls in Malaysia

Have you ever received unknown caller IDs, just to find out they are spammy telemarketers or scammers? In fact, Truecaller, the world’s most used Caller ID & Spam Detection app, today announced some revealing stats on spam and scam calls in Malaysia.

Malaysians Received The Most Spam Calls in the Region

That goes without saying, spam calls are on the rise around the globe, and the situation is no different in Malaysia. In fact, Malaysia is the most notorious than its neighbouring countries of the same region. The recently published Truecaller Insights: Top Spammers in Malaysia in 2017 report reveals that in Malaysia, the average Truecaller user receives more than 7 spam calls each month. This is compared to 4 spam calls monthly in Singapore and Thailand and 2 per month in Vietnam. However, Malaysian residents will be glad to know that so far, Truecaller has helped its users in Malaysia identify over 4.3 million spam calls, just this year alone.

Globally, there are a number of common categories that tie all spam calls together. They are most common being unsolicited finance and insurance product offerings. Apart from that, spam calls also include telemarketing and debt collection calls. Other unwanted calls include operator nuisance and scam calls.

“Spam calls and SMS is a global phenomenon, and recently we’ve seen an uptake from users suffering from this hassle in Malaysia,” said Alan Mamedi, CEO & co-founder of Truecaller. “Truecaller is substantially improving people’s lives and we look forward to being able to help even more people by making their communications safe and efficient.”

A closer look at spam calls in Malaysia

One major driver of spam calls in Malaysia is financial services that account for 67% of spam calls. Typically, these are banking product offers or cold calls from credit card companies. Another major spam call problem that Malaysians have to deal with is telemarketing calls at 13% of total spam calls. Telemarketing calls include promotional calls from companies, survey calls by analytics firms on behalf of their clients, or new client outreach for services and subscriptions.

Rounding off the spam call list in Malaysia are insurance calls at 9% and operator calls at 4%. Debt collection, nuisance and scam calls make up 6% of spam calls.

Ways to counter spammers

In Malaysia, the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) enables consumers to officially write to any company that is using their contact details for marketing, to ask for the company to stop marketing to them. Companies that do not comply with the written notice are liable to a fine up to RM200,000 or jail term for up to two years, or both. However, it can be tedious for consumers to identify every company marketing. Not to mention, sending a written notice and to later lodge an official complaint to the authorities if the marketer does not comply.

Truecaller makes it simple for everyone to look at their Caller ID and know who’s calling. The function still works even if the user does not store the number in their phonebook. Truecaller also enables users to block calls as well as SMS and report spam callers and messages. Hence, allowing the larger community of users to avoid the spammers too. Currently, more than 250 million people around the world are enjoying the benefits of using Truecaller. So, even unidentified foreign numbers can be vetted with Truecaller, currently available for Android and iOS.

To find out more about Truecaller, please visit www.truecaller.com.