Europeans, how common are random spam phone calls in your country?
Europeans, how common are random spam phone calls in your country?
Europeans, how common are random spam phone calls in your country?
Living in Germany, I get rarely get any. Usually about 1-2 per year. Last year was an exception, where the same entity (computer or very confused person) called me like 5 times before I blocked the number.
I gave out my number a lot in groups, but avoid giving it to online or delivery services.
Living in Germany, I never got any - until I had to register with my phone number at an American company (for work). Now I get 3-4 spam calls/messages per week.
Finland. Rare, unless you've been posting your number everywhere or run a business.
Netherlands, haven't had one in years, would say perhaps one in about 8 years?
I do make sure to share my contact details only with people I want to share them with
My 20-year-old Microsoft e-mail address though? That gets spam on a daily basis since the Twitter breach
Poland: very rare, 2-4 per year
Damn I get that many in a day at least here in California
Also Poland: 2-3 calls in a day from bots trying to convince to buy photovoltaics, then nothing for a few weeks. It used to be much, much worse.
My phone number is pretty old though, so it has been leaked lots of times probably.
I went to the USA for three weeks 8 years ago. I had a US prepaid phone with a number never published anywhere except my close family. I got three SPAM calls within these three weeks. Being back in Germany with my 20+ years old number I have received one call since.
And usually those aren't from within Germany, but some scammers calling with Lithuanian or Moldovan numbers. At least those were the ones I got.
Living in Spain, there are quite a few.
The https://www.listarobinson.es/ is supposed to help, and it does to an extend, but sometimes you still get a lot of calls.
Pepephone has an app to protect about it, I'll give it a try https://www.pepephone.com/pepeescudo
From Spain, I get a lot all the time
It seems to be spread across the whole country
One every ~5 years (Austria)
I couldn't find any statistics about the frequency of spam calls in Germany, so I can only share my personal experience. I have never received a single one since having my own number. My parents got more when their number could still be found in the public phone book (yes, that is/was a thing). Friends complain maybe twice a year.
I am not a relevant example though, I am very cautious about giving out my number, usually I only do so when absolutely necessary and I often don't use services (like dating apps) if they don't let me without verifying my phone number.
(France) I'd say I get an average of 5 a week since the end of last year. Before that they were very uncommon.
I'd love to know what shitty company is selling my number to these guys because I pay a fee to my operator to have it unlisted, so it is not publicly available...
France is weirdly bad for spam calls. Also has the second highest percentage of anti-vaxers after the US
There's a connection there but I'm not seeing it
Tbh we are the OG anti vaxxers because of that one paper about the link between aluminum adjuvants in vaccines and autism IIRC. But that trend died down in the late 90's and we imported the new and improved brand of anti vax movements from the US with the COVID...
France too, I came back a few months ago and after a month.
I had my number for years but suddenly after a month I started receiving a lot of spam. I would love to know who gave away my number too.
At least now at the spam calls have to come from specific numbers so it's easy to block.
Living in the Netherlands: none as far as I can remember.
EDIT: spelling
There are some scam calls to be fair, but it's really rare. Also you hear about these spoofing WhatsApps and stuff where they pretend to be your relative.
I know OP didn't ask, but as someone in the US I get at least four calls per day on weekdays. Sometimes ten. Weekends are a little better. But I do have two numbers, the second number is also forwarded to my cell phone. So it's probably marginally higher because of that.
WTF how do you live like that, I'd get a new number
It doesn’t matter they will quickly find it
They are an exception. Most people get 1 or 2 a week and it comes in waves. I mostly get texts.
I get at least 2 a day, US as well
Finland here. Havent had one in 10 years or so?
But I do agressively forbid sharing my contact info through governmental blocks on sharing them/forbiding the sharing when I start using new services. Also I'm not in business as employer or as a freelancer.
Haha i moved from Canada to Germany. In Canada i would get at least 3 a week, in Germany I don't think i've gotten one yet in the two years i've been here
1 or 2 in 40+ years
Very rare.
I always reject any marketing spam when signing.
In Croatia, let's say one attempt a month. I'm calling it an attempt since I let Android block them automatically.
A spam call getting through the filter happens maybe once a year.
But they never call again after I have my fun with them :D Delisting your number in the public phonebook helps.
How do you block them automatically?
UK here - 1 or 2 a week on my home phone which we never use and not many people have the number anyway. I have BT's 'Call Protect' which is supposed to let you block nuisance calls but it's such a pain to use - takes too many clicks and menu changes. On Android I just select last number and block.
Hardly any spam calls on mobile as built in software (forget the name) on my S23 automatically warns me of possible spam or blocks them completely.
Much better than it was 10 years ago - that was a nightmare.
In Belgium, on mobile, I get about 1 every 2 months.
In Greece and I only got 2 in 6 months in mobile. On our home phone, we used to get 2-3 calls per week, now we don't anymore.
When I was in Canada, I used to get daily spam and scam phone calls on my mobile, it was so annoying.
I never got any for many years, but getting 5 to 10 every day since January when I switched gas company and as always denied every use of my number for marketing purposes. I live in Italy.
Had some a few years ago. Reported them to the network agencies, and was informed a few days later that they have been shut down and fined.
Netherlands, I'm getting them off and on. I get scam SMS, WhatsAppor phone calls. Maybe 20-30 a year, but they aren't spread evenly. There are times I seem to be getting them all the time
It sucks because I know where they get my number. My elderly dad gets hacked and scammed constantly on Facebook. So if he has my number in his contact, I have to suffer as well. There should be some technical protection against that
Netherlands. They're rare but I do get the ones where they immediately hang up as it starts ringing and then hope you call back so they can charhe you money for it. But number recognition helps because generally I don't expect to be called from Nigeria or something.
In Romania, quite rare. Maybe one every 3-4 months. They're clearly identifiable as spam calls, at least on my phone, so they're easy to avoid.
Denmark and I have never experienced it, but I have meet people who have
The US has a national Do Not Call registry... you sign up online. It takes ~2 minutes to register and 30 days to take effect IIRC. Registering took my spam calls from several times a day down to several per year. The only ones I get now are political and people looking for the previous owner.
Edit: if you want to be proactive or vindictive you can report unwanted callers (or anyone using a robodialer) to the FTC.
Swiss: Basically none except for one specific type. Since the mandatory basic insurance is provided by „competing“ private insurers there are companies who call you at the end of the year and try to convince you to swap to a cheaper insurer. Otherwise, maybe 2 in the last 30 years.
they are sadly becoming a bit more common here in Spain
Never got any
I get like 5 spam calls in a week and then non for 6 to 12 months. (Germany)
I get 1 or 2 sales calls a year, if you think that's spam
Idk what the UK average is, but personally maybe 4 or 5 year.