By Thapelo Molefe
Truecaller identified 17.47 billion spam calls targeting South African phones between January and June, a 25.2% increase from the 13.96 billion recorded during the same period in 2025.
At the same time, the proportion of identified spam calls answered by South African users fell from 10.2% in the first half of 2025 to 7.8% in the first half of this year, according to data released by the caller identification platform.
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Truecaller said users blocked 7.18 billion spam calls during the first six months of 2026, representing a 58.6% year-on-year increase.
The company attributed the improvement in blocking rates partly to its machine-learning systems acting on reports submitted through its community network.
Mmathebe Zvobwo, Director of Market Development for South Africa at Truecaller, said the figures showed both the growing scale of the threat and how users were responding.
“Scam networks are not slowing down. If anything, they are becoming more sophisticated, using spoofing and AI-driven tactics to appear legitimate,” Zvobwo said.
“What this data tells us is that South Africans are starting to fight back with better information. When a call is flagged before it even rings through, or clearly identified as high-risk, people are choosing not to engage. That is exactly the kind of digital neighbourhood watch we set out to build.”
Spam activity also extended beyond voice calls, with Truecaller identifying 3.71 billion spam messages in the first half of 2026, up 58.9% from the same period last year.
Its community reporting network also helped detect 559 million new spam numbers between March and June, with machine-learning models using those reports to flag and filter new numbers within hours of them first appearing.
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The company said the rise in unwanted calls was prompting some users to seek greater control over which calls reach their phones.
“Identification alone is no longer enough for many users who are dealing with dozens of spam attempts a week. Premium gives people direct control: they can choose to simply identify suspicious numbers, automatically filter high-risk calls, or auto-block known spam and scam numbers outright,” Zvobwo said.
“As the volume of attempts grows, more South Africans are choosing that extra layer of control.”
Truecaller advised consumers never to share one-time passwords, PINs, passwords or banking information over the phone, even when a caller claims to represent a bank or network provider.
Consumers were also urged to hang up if a caller creates a sense of urgency or if the call appears unusual, and to contact the organisation directly using an official number.
The company advised users to be cautious about links or apps sent through SMS or WhatsApp during or after an unexpected call, never to install software at a caller’s request, and to report suspicious numbers to help strengthen spam protection for others on the network.
