Nigeria is the most spammed country in Africa and one of the worst affected in the world, with more than half of all unknown calls received in the country identified as spam or fraud, according to Truecaller’s 2025 Global Insights Report.
The country ranked eighth globally, with 51 per cent of all unknown calls flagged as spam, ahead of South Africa at 30 per cent, Kenya at around 15 per cent, Ghana at around 11 percent, and Ethiopia at around nine per cent.
According to the report, operator-linked calls account for 35 percent of all spam in Nigeria, the highest single-category share in any African market. Sales and telemarketing follow at 10 per cent, while outright scams represent just six per cent.
This suggests that in Nigeria, a significant share of unwanted calls is linked to telecom and operator-driven communications rather than fraudulent activity alone.
Truecaller notes this as part of a broader structural shift across Europe and Africa, where operator-linked automated systems have moved from a minor nuisance to one of the dominant sources of spam. These calls, often promotional, balance alerts, or third-party offers routed through carriers, have become increasingly difficult for users to distinguish from genuine service messages.
The scale of the problem globally has nearly doubled in four years. In 2021, Truecaller identified 37.8bn spam calls worldwide. By 2025, that figure had climbed to over 68bn, with the fastest growth recorded in Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa, exactly the regions that dominate the 2025 rankings.
Indonesia leads the world with 79 percent of unknown calls flagged as spam, followed by Chile at 70 percent, a sharp increase from 51 percent in just six months, with Vietnam, Brazil and India completing the top five.
In Chile, debt collection accounts for 38 percent of all spam, the highest concentration of any single category in any market globally. In Indonesia and Mexico, over 40 percent of spam calls impersonate financial institutions.
The consequences stretch beyond nuisance. As Nigerians become conditioned to ignoring unknown numbers, doctors, schools, dispatch riders, banks, and legitimate businesses now struggle to reach the people they serve. Missed calls mean missed appointments, delayed critical information, lost revenue, and weakened customer relationships.
Looking ahead, Truecaller warns that AI-generated voice calls are becoming harder to detect, while automated scam operations scale more easily than ever.
For legitimate businesses, the report notes, the unknown call has become a liability. A real company calling a real customer has to work harder than ever to be heard.
Truecaller CEO Rishit Jhunjhunwala said, “Fraud, impersonation, and scams are affecting people’s daily lives in a way we have never seen before. In some countries, most unknown calls are now spam, that is a fundamental breakdown in how communication works.”
