Global Phone Spam and Fraud Report: Nearly a Third of All Unknown Calls in First Half of 2024 Were Unwanted

August 22, 2024 at 09:00 AM EDT

Hiya’s latest report on spam and fraud calls across 40+ countries reveal various fraud tactics across countries, including the growing prevalence of AI scams

Hiya, the global leader in voice security, has published H1 2024 Global Call Threat Report, which explores the volume, frequency and type of phone spam and fraud across major global markets between January and June of 2024.

Download Hiya’s H1 2024 Global Call Threat Report to learn more: https://hiya.com/global-call-threat-report

In the first six months of 2024, Hiya flagged nearly 20 billion calls as suspected spam – more than 107 million spam calls everyday. Hiya’s data showed spam flag rates of more than 20% of unknown calls (calls coming from outside of someone’s address book) in 25 out of the 42 countries included in the report – with some spam flag rates above 50%.

The first half of 2024 also saw an increase in AI deepfake scams, which use AI-generated voice-cloning technology to impersonate people and/or organizations. Ahead of the primary election in January, voters in New Hampshire received robocalls impersonating Joe Biden using an AI-generated voice. As AI tools become more powerful and accessible, Hiya anticipates that voice-cloning impersonation scam tactics will continue to be on the rise in 2024 and beyond.

Medicare and insurance scams continue to target Americans

Americans received an average of 14 spam calls per month in the first six months of 2024. The rate of spam flag rate varies state-by-state with Oklahoma, Indiana and Ohio having the highest rates of spam in H1, while Alaska, New York and North Dakota had the lowest. Health insurance and Medicare scams were popular in the US between January and June followed by other insurance scams, including auto, home, and life. Tax scams were also on the rise in the first half, and steadily increased leading up to the April 15 tax filing deadline.

France and Spain continues to have the worst spam across Europe, for past 7 quarters

More than half of all unknown calls in France and Spain were unwanted – with spam flag rates of 53% and 51%, respectively. On average French and Spanish residents receive more than 12 nuisance or fraud calls each month. Despite similar spam flag rates, Spain has a bigger fraud problem as 12% of unknown calls are fraud compared to 5% in France.

The most commonly reported fraud calls in Spain were utility and mobile phone sales scams. In February, a new TikTok scam call emerged as users reported robocalls offering 800 Euros a day to watch and like videos on TikTok. Utility related scams, including electricity suppliers and solar energy, were the top scams in the first half of 2024 in France. Telemarketing calls, banking-related scam calls and package delivery scams were also common.

UK residents are targeted with tax agency and Amazon scams

The UK had a spam flag rate of 28% of all unknown calls, and 3% of those calls were fraud in H1. Popular phone scams across the UK in the first half of the year included tax scams, specifically impersonating Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), Amazon scams and credit card scams. Cryptocurrency, energy-related and immigration scams were also on the rise.

Brazilians receive the most spam calls per month across the globe

Brazilians received an average 26 spam calls per month in the first half of 2024. More than half of the unidentified calls in the country were spam (51%) with 13% of those being fraud. Banking scams are the most popular phone scam across Brazil with Hiya users reporting scammers impersonating a bank and calling to confirm personal information and passwords.

Amazon scams surged across Canada

While Canadians only received an average of 4 spam calls per person each month, 7% of those calls were fraud. In 2023, Amazon scams were the most popular scam targeting Canadians and continued into the first half of 2024 – hitting a peak in mid-April. Scams impersonating government officials were also popular in H1 followed by credit card and cryptocurrency scams.

“Phone fraud, spam and the emerging use of AI-driven deepfake voice scams are escalating threats to the voice channel, affecting every phone user across every major market,” shared Kush Parikh, President of Hiya. “The voice channel deserves the same level of vigilance that enterprises apply to cybersecurity. In fact, voice security must be swiftly integrated into cybersecurity strategies, as it represents a significant vulnerability in protecting enterprises.”

Hiya report methodology

The H1 2024 Global Call Threat Report is based on a representative sample of calls observed by Hiya on the Hiya Voice Security Network, which includes Samsung Smart Call enabled devices and the Hiya mobile app. The spam ratios in this report represent unknown calls outside of an individual’s contact list calls that Hiya has identified and flagged as either fraud or nuisance.

Download the complete H1 2024 Global Call Threat Report to learn more.

About Hiya

Hiya is trusted by global businesses, carriers, and consumers to provide secure, engaging connections and stop unwanted calls. Built on the world’s leading Voice Security Platform, Hiya connects businesses with their customers, helps carriers secure their networks, and protects people from spam and fraud calls. Hiya’s SaaS applications, Hiya Connect and Hiya Protect, serve more than 500 million users on the Hiya Network, powering call protection and identity for EE, Samsung, Ericsson and more. Learn more at www.hiya.com.