Nigeria Ranked As Most Spammed Country In Africa — Trucaller
Nigeria has been named the most spammed country in Africa, according to a recent report from Truecaller. In 2025, over half of all calls from unknown numbers to Nigerians were identified as either junk or fraudulent.
Data from the global caller ID platform shows that 51 per cent of unknown calls in Nigeria were flagged as spam, placing the nation eighth in the world rankings and ahead of other African countries such as South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, and Ethiopia.
The report highlights that while many countries struggle with scammers pretending to be from banks, Nigeria’s spam problem is primarily driven by mobile networks and telecom operators. Telecom-related calls accounted for 35 per cent of all recorded spam—the highest for a single category in Africa—while sales and telemarketing made up 10 per cent and scams accounted for six per cent.
The findings suggest that the rise in automated "robocalls" and unverified outreach from network agents is making it increasingly difficult for Nigerians to tell the difference between genuine calls and fraud. Many users are now unable to determine if an unknown caller is a network provider confirming a service, a third-party marketer offering a loan, or a criminal posing as a trusted operator.
This trend mirrors the situation in Brazil, where network-related calls also dominate the spam market. Globally, Indonesia was ranked as the most spammed country in the world, with 79 per cent of unknown calls identified as spam in 2025, followed by Chile, Vietnam, Brazil, and India.
The report also revealed that the Middle East and Africa region surpassed 100 million monthly active users on the platform in late 2025, with Africa emerging as one of Truecaller’s fastest-growing markets. Commenting on the data, Truecaller CEO Rishit Jhunjhunwala stated that the sheer scale of fraud and impersonation calls should be a major concern.
“The scale of what this data shows should concern everyone. 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,” he said.
Jhunjhunwala added that the company’s main goal for 2026 would be to block fraudulent calls before they even reach the user.
Truecaller also revealed that it hit a milestone of 500 million monthly active users worldwide on 31 March 2026, with over 150 million of those users based outside India.
