Six in 10 people still receive three or more annoying calls a day, LocalCircles survey shows

A LocalCircles survey found that while the annoying phone calls have improved slightly, six out of 10 Indians surveyed still receive three or more calls a day, with individuals selling financial services and real estate being the worst hit.

The survey received more than 60,000 responses from citizens across India’s 378 districts. A total of 64% of the respondents were male and 36% were female. About 42% of the respondents were from Tier I areas, 33% from Tier II areas and 25% from Tier III, Tier IV and rural areas.

60% of respondents receive an average of 3 or more spam calls per day

The survey began by asking respondents: “On average, how many unwanted, annoying sales/promotional or robocalls did your mobile phone number receive per day in the past 12 months?”

The query received 12,196 responses, with 60% of respondents saying they had received an average of three or more spam calls per day in the past 12 months. Data shows that 30% of respondents received an average of 1-2 spam calls every day, 36% said they received at least 3-5 spam calls almost every day, and 21% said they received 6-10 spam calls every day. spam calls, and 3% reported receiving more than 10 spam calls. However, 4% of the respondents did not respond clearly, and 6% of the respondents said they were lucky to “not receive such calls.”

The proportion of mobile users who received 3 or more spam calls dropped from 66% in February 2023 to 60% in February 2024

A data comparison study shows that in February 2023, 66% of mobile users surveyed confirmed receiving an average of three or more spam calls per day, while this has dropped to 60% in the past 12 months . Although the decline is modest, it is encouraging as it shows that proper implementation of the TRAI directive can further improve curbing spam calls to mobile users.

6% of mobile users surveyed said they did not receive spam calls

This improvement is even more pronounced considering that 6% of mobile users surveyed in February 2024 said they did not receive spam calls, while no respondents in February 2023 reported such relief. Additionally, there was no change in the proportion of respondents who reported receiving 1-2 spam calls to the question “On average, how many unwanted, annoying sales/promotional or robocalls do you receive on your mobile phone number per day?” Both February 2023 and February 2024 will remain at 30%. However, for those who said they received an average of 3-5 calls per day, this has dropped from 45% in February 2023 to 36% in the new survey, while those who said they received more than 10 per day The proportion of people calling has also dropped from 45% in February 2023 to 36%. The average number of spam calls received per day dropped from 5% to 3% in 12 months. Unfortunately, the average rate of receiving 6-10 spam calls per day has increased from 14% in February 2023 to 21% in February 2024.

90% of respondents admitted that they still receive spam calls despite being registered on the Do Not Disturb list

The next survey question asked mobile users: “Despite being registered on the Do Not Disturb (DND) list, in the past 12 months, have you ever received spam calls, spam calls, sales/promotions on your mobile number? Phone or robocall?” The query received a total of 11,769 responses, with 90% of respondents admitting they “still understand”, 5% saying “don’t understand” and 5% not being clear. reply. This clearly shows that the Do Not Disturb list still doesn’t work for consumers.

A look at responses to the same query received in February 2024 and the final survey data shows that there has been very little improvement over the past 12 months. In February 2023, 92% of mobile users still received harassing calls despite signing up for the Do Not Disturb list, and the latest survey showed that 90% of them continued to receive annoying calls.

76% of respondents said they receive the highest number of annoying calls from the financial services and real estate industries

The survey then asked respondents: “In the past 12 months, which category of unwanted, annoying, sales/promotional, robocalls have your mobile phone number received the highest number of?” With nearly 12,000 responses, 76% of respondents said the highest number of annoying calls they received were from the financial services and real estate industries. Data analysis shows that 54% of respondents have received annoying calls from companies selling financial services; 22% are from real estate sales companies; 7% of respondents said the company provides health care/pathology services; 4% provide jobs/income Opportunities; 2% provide RO repair, spa, beauty and other services; 2% provide mobile phone numbers, better mobile phone call/data packages, etc.; 7% of respondents indicated other categories.

Comparing survey results from February 2023 to now provides interesting insights into changing trends. In some categories, the share of “property for sale” has increased, rising from 18% in February 2023 to 22% now. In areas where medical/pathology services are provided, respondents said the proportion had increased from 2% to 7%, while in the unlisted “other categories” the proportion had risen from 4% in just 12 months rose to 7%. On the other hand, calls related to job/income provision have dropped from 10% of unwanted calls to 4%, while for those selling financial services these have dropped from 60% of unwanted calls to 54% .No changes to those offering services such as reverse osmosis repairs, spa or beauty treatments; offering mobile phone numbers, better mobile talk/data plans, etc.; or those saying they don’t receive any spam calls

48% of mobile users surveyed said most of the annoying calls they receive come from different mobile numbers that appear to belong to an individual

To understand where the calls are coming from, the survey asked respondents: “In the past 12 months, how have you received these unwanted, annoying, sales/promotional or robocalls on your mobile phone?” The query received 11,483 responses, with 48% of mobile users stating that most of the annoying calls they receive come from different mobile numbers that appear to belong to individuals, while 36% said they come from different mobile numbers that appear to belong to companies/brands; 7% of Respondents said they had received calls from a centralized company landline number, and 2% said the calls appeared to come from a centralized company toll-free number. In addition, 7% of the respondents chose “cannot say”

Calls from different mobile numbers that appear to belong to a company/brand have increased from 29% in February 2023 to 36% in February 2024

While nuisance calls from centralized company landline numbers have decreased from 14% to 7% since February 2023, surveys show that 2% of citizens now receive calls from centralized company toll-free numbers. Similarly, while the proportion of citizens receiving calls from different mobile numbers that appear to belong to individuals fell from 50% to 48%, calls from different mobile numbers that appear to belong to companies/brands increased from 29% in February 2023 Rising to 36% in February 2024

LocalCircles is a community social media platform that empowers citizens and small businesses to escalate policy and enforcement intervention issues, and enables governments to create citizen- and small business-focused policy.