South Africa was identified as one of the top five spam-plagued countries in the world. This is according to Truecaller, a company behind the software which identifies incoming mobile calls.
The report shows that the majority of these spam calls come from telemarketing, which leads the way with 39%; financial institutions make up 24% and insurance-related calls account for 13%.
Women receive more unwanted calls than men – and they report them, the report reveals with South African women receiving 6% more spam calls than men and also reporting 4% more spam calls.
The company said that women who use the app, available for smartphones from the Android and iOS stores, ensure their harassers are on the spam list by reporting 19% more of unwanted calls than men.
Truecaller said that the trend could be for various reasons, but the same is happening in many other regions around the globe.
The report stated that when a woman receives an unwanted call or SMS, she is more likely to try and help other people avoid the harasser by reporting the number to Truecaller.
