The United States receives an above average number of spam calls compared to other countries, and the most common phone scams relate to Medicare, insurance, and taxes.
Those were some of the findings from the US section of Hiya’s latest Global Call Threat Report, which reports data from the first half of 2024. The report reveals spam rates in more than 40 countries worldwide and details the most common scam calls in select countries.
Download the H1 2024 Global Call Threat Report
Low rates of fraud in the US
Americans receive an average of 14 spam calls per month. That’s much higher than its northern neighbor Canada (4 per month) but lower than Mexico to the south, which averages 17 calls per month.
What stands out for the US, however, is its low rate of fraud calls. Although 30% of unknown calls (calls coming from outside a person’s contact list) were identified as nuisance, only 1% were identified as fraud — one of the lowest fraud rates in the world. Most of the fraud calls in the US are blocked by the carrier at the network level, so they never reach the recipient’s phone.
In the US, 30% of unknown calls are considered nuisance, but only 1% are fraud calls.
The most common phone scams in the US
The most common phone scams in the US in the first half of 2024 were related to health insurance.
Coming in #1 were scams related to Medicare, the US government-funded health plan for Americans 65 and older. Even though they were #1 in the first half of 2024, Medicare scams actually dropped from previous levels, hitting a peak in November 2023 during the open enrollment period.
Insurance scams came in at #2, and some of those were about health insurance (along with auto insurance, life insurance, home insurance, etc.). “Health” was #3, with scams about various health related products and services.
Tax scams were #4, steadily increasing up to and beyond the April 15 tax filing deadline. After April 15, scammers switched their scripts to warnings of penalties for non-payment of taxes. Amazon scams moved down to #5, as they hit their high late in the previous year during the holiday season. Also in the top 10 were relief scams (debt relief, mortgage relief, student loan relief), credit card scams, and fraudsters warning of arrest by the police.
States with the highest spam rates
Not only is Hiya able to measure spam rates in countries around the world, but user data also reveals which US states have the highest spam rates.
When a call from an unknown number comes in, the likelihood that it’s a spam call varies by state. For people who live in Oklahoma, there’s a 32% chance that an unknown call is going to be spam. Below are the ten states with the highest spam rates.
States with the lowest spam rates include Alaska (16.7%), New York (17.7%), North Dakota (18.2%), and Hawaii (19.9%).
Get the full report
Hiya's Global Call Threat Report is an invaluable resource for comparing spam rates in countries around the world.
Download the report to discover:
- Number of spam calls per person per month in 40+ countries.
- Percentage of calls that are suspected to be fraud vs. nuisance.
- Detailed analysis of the US, UK, Canada, Spain, France, Germany and Brazil.
- Top scam calls in each of the seven countries mentioned above.
- Spam call comparisons by region.
Methodology
Data in the Global Call Threat Report report is based on a representative sample of calls observed during the first half of 2024 on the Hiya Voice Security Network, which includes Samsung Smart Call enabled devices and the Hiya mobile app. US state data comes from the Hiya mobile app only, from users who have provided their area code.
Spam is defined as unwanted calls, and includes both fraud calls and nuisance calls. The spam flag rate represents calls that Hiya has identified and flagged as either “potential fraud” or “suspected spam.” Spam ratios represent the number of unwanted calls from non-contacts, which are calls placed from numbers that are not in an individual’s local address book.