Unwanted scam call rates continued to climb around the world at the end of 2023.
In its Q4 2023 Global Call Threat Report, voice security platform Hiya reported 7.3 billion unwanted calls globally, or about 81 million spam calls every day, representing an increase from the 6.55 billion calls reported in the third quarter of 2023.
Unwanted scam calls ramping up at the end of 2023 underscores the larger trend of cybercriminals doubling down their efforts during the holiday shopping season. Between October and December, for example, scam calls were mostly related to package deliveries and fraudsters impersonating major retailers like Amazon.
But Hiya’s report pointed out a small silver lining — while 29% of calls Americans received in the fourth quarter of 2023 were spam, only 1% were fraud.
“Most fraud calls in the US are blocked by the carrier at the network level, so they never reach consumers,” Hiya said.
The plague of scam calls is far from cured. During 2023 as a whole, U.S. households wasted 227 million hours answering unwanted calls, according to a report from spam-blocking app Truecaller.
In addition, the Federal Trade Commission said it received more than two million Do Not Call complaints in 2023, most of which were about robocalls, or computerized, pre-recorded messages.
Two million is still a huge number, but the FTC said consumer complaints are the lowest they’ve been in five years. The drop is likely due to the increase in DNC Registry sign ups, improved spam blockers built into smartphones, and the efforts of Operation Stop Spam Calls, which is the largest crackdown on illegal telemarketing calls in U.S. history.
The lightning-fast pace of technology evolution throws up unfortunately keeps cybercriminals a step ahead of government agencies and mobile carriers efforts to fully stop the problem. Hiya is already anticipating an increase in AI-generated voice clone scams.
While it’s unlikely to avoid spam calls altogether, there are ways to protect yourself by learning about scams, verifying information came directly from the company in question, and not clicking on any suspicious links — no matter how urgent it may sound.
Please follow us on Facebook and X for more news, tips, and reviews. Need cord cutting tech support? Join our Cord Cutting Tech Support Facebook Group for help.