India ranked fifth among the world’s most spam-affected countries in 2025, according to the latest Truecaller Insights report, with 66 per cent of unknown calls received by Truecaller users identified as spam. The scale is staggering and it is getting worse.
Where India Stands Globally
Truecaller identified over 68 billion spam and fraud calls worldwide in 2025. Indonesia led the spam intensity rankings at 79 per cent, followed by Chile at 70 per cent, Vietnam, Brazil, and then India. Indian users identified 41.68 billion spam calls and 129.03 billion spam messages during the year. The Truecaller community blocked 11.89 billion of those calls. Of the approximately 7.7 billion fraud calls recorded, sales and telemarketing accounted for 36 per cent, financial services for 18 per cent, and scams for 12 per cent.
What Happened to Do Not Disturb?
India’s National Customer Preference Register (NCPR) the backbone of the Do Not Disturb framework still functions against registered telemarketers, who are required to use specific number series such as the 140 prefix and respect user opt-outs. Users can register on DND by dialling or messaging 1909 or through the TRAI DND app.
The problem is everything outside that system. Unregistered telemarketers, or UTMs, use ordinary 10-digit mobile numbers, often through bulk SIMs or so-called SIM farms. Because they are not registered, they are not bound by DND rules and they know it. UTMs are now the primary reason spam persists despite the regulatory framework.
What the Government and Telecom Operators Are Doing
The response has escalated. As of early 2025, TRAI imposed penalties worth Rs 1.5 billion on telecom companies for failing to curb spam. Over 2.1 million mobile numbers and 100,000 entities were disconnected or blacklisted based on complaints as of late 2025. That same year, 731,000 notices were issued to UTMs, with restrictions placed on hundreds of thousands of entities.
TRAI has also urged users to report spam even without DND registration, noting that source-level disconnection is more effective than phone-level blocking. In 2025, tighter consent rules were introduced alongside faster complaint response timelines — up to five days for providers. Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) was rolled out for tracking promotional messages. Measures targeting AI-generated robo-calling, including AI-based detection systems, restrictions on bulk calling, and public awareness campaigns, were also implemented.
How Spammers Stay Ahead
Despite the crackdowns, the spam ecosystem is scaling faster than enforcement can contain it. SIMs are cheap, automation is widely accessible, and spammers continuously adapt.
UTMs exploit the gap by using normal-looking numbers that bypass the 140-series rules entirely. Spoofing and number rotation make it difficult to trace or block repeat offenders. SIM farms enable rapid cycling of numbers. AI powers robo-diallers and voice cloning at scale. Cross-border and VoIP routing adds another layer of evasion. And spam number lists are regularly refreshed through data leaks from apps, websites, and breaches. Application-to-person (A2P) calling is also rising.
The conclusion the data points to is uncomfortable: DND registration is insufficient on its own, and phone-level blocking does not address the source. The government and telecom operators are acting more aggressively than before but low operational costs and rapidly evolving technology continue to keep spam volumes at industrial scale.
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