Sometimes, unwanted calls are merely annoying or a waste of time. But too often, they result in significant financial losses for consumers, businesses and mobile carriers.
That’s one of the insights from Hiya’s State of the Call 2025 report, which is based on a survey commissioned by Hiya of more than 12,000 consumers, 1,800 workers who use voice calls on the job, and 600 security and IT executives at businesses that depend on voice calls.
Phone scams continue to result in significant financial losses for consumers. Over the past year, 15% of consumers reported losing money to a phone scam—a figure that remains virtually unchanged from 2024, despite ongoing investments by carriers and device manufacturers in voice security.
Among individuals who lost money, the average amount reported over the past 12 months varied by country:
For businesses, the financial and operational cost of spam and fraud calls is even steeper.
Roughly one-third of workers say their company has lost money because they couldn’t reach customers or prospects by phone. The impact is especially acute in sales—60% of sales professionals report losing a deal due to call-related issues.
But the damage goes beyond lost revenue. Business professionals report a wide range of negative consequences from not being able to reliably reach customers by phone, including:
We asked consumers whether spam and fraud calls had ever made them consider switching mobile providers. The results show a clear link between voice security and customer retention: more than one-third of consumers say they have either switched providers or considered doing so due to how their current carrier handles spam and fraud calls.
Beyond switching behavior, spam and fraud call management has a measurable impact on customer satisfaction. Just over half of consumers said that how well their mobile carrier handles these issues has either positively or negatively affected their satisfaction.
So, what’s the solution? What can be done to quell the fears consumers have of answering the phone; how can businesses connect with their customers; and how can carriers retain the subscribers they worked so hard to get?
When consumers know who is calling them they are more likely to pick up the phone—which boosts answer rates for business and leads to better outcomes.