Spam Phone Calls a Growing Problem Worldwide, Hiya Reports

Chile (57%), Indonesia (56.5%), Argentina (56%) and Hong Kong (56%) had the highest spam call rates among all the countries tracked by Hiya, the company said Thursday. In the U.S., 22.3% of unknown calls were found to be spam, Hiya said. The company identified 6.55 billion instances of phone spam across 39 countries in Q3, or 73 million incidents per day. Generative AI is behind some of the calls, Hiya said: “Voice-cloning technology is being used by scammers to convince victims that a child, grandchild or other loved one is in trouble and needs immediate financial assistance -- or worse, that a ransom needs to be paid for their release.