41.68 billion spam calls in India: 66 per cent of unknown numbers on Truecaller were spam. Whatever happened to Do Not Disturb?
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "41.68 billion spam calls in India: 66 per cent of unknown numbers on Truecaller were spam. Whatever happened to Do Not Disturb?")
Truecaller report ranked India as the fifth most spam-affected country Photograph: (Others)
Indian users of Truecaller recorded 41.68 billion spam calls in 2025. India is the fifth-worst affected country for spam calls and messages. Spammers are bypassing DND rules using new techniques.
The latest Truecaller Insights report ranked India as the fifth most spam-affected country globally, with a spam intensity of 66 per cent. This means 66 per cent of unknown calls received by Truecaller users in India in 2025 were identified as spam. Why did the problem get so big and never-ending? What are the government and telecom operators dong about it? How are spammers bypassing the restrictions like Do Not Disturb or DND?
Truecaller identified over 68 billion spam and fraud calls worldwide in 2025. Where does India stand?
India is among the top countries for spam calls recorded on Truecaller. Indonesia topped the list of spam intensity, at 79 per cent, while Chile came second, at 70 per cent intensity. This was followed by Vietnam, Brazil and then India.
Truecaller users in India identified 41.68 billion spam calls and an even worse 129.03 billion spam messages in 2025. The Truecaller community blocked 11.89 billion spam calls. Fraud calls were around 7.7 billion, out of which sales and telemarketing accounted for 36 per cent, financial services 18 per cent, and scams 12 per cent.
So what happened to India's Do Not Disturb policies and measures against spam calls?
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The Indian government's National Customer Preference Register (NCPR) still exists and works reasonably well against registered telemarketers (RTMs). They are required to use specific number series or prefixes like 140 for calls and respect user preferences. One can register on DND by dialling or messaging 1909 or by using the TRAI DND app of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
But DND is largely bypassed by Unregistered Telemarketers or UTMs, who use ordinary 10-digit mobile numbers, often via bulk SIMs or "SIM farms". These callers ignore DND entirely because they are not registered and do not follow the rules, becoming the main cause of spam persistence despite DND measures.
What the Indian government and telecom operators are doing to fight the spam menace
TRAI, the Department of Telecom and mobile network operators have taken several steps. As of early 2026, TRAI slapped penalties worth 1.5 billion rupees on telecom companies for failing to curb spam. More than 2.1 million mobile numbers and 100,000 entities were either disconnected or blacklisted based on complaints as of late 2025. In 2025 alone, 731,000 notices were sent to UTMs, with restrictions imposed on hundreds of thousands of entities.
TRAI strongly encouraged reporting spam, even without DND registration, in order to help trace and disconnect the calls at the source, unlike phone-level blocking.
In 2025, tighter consent rules and faster action on complaints, with response timelines of up to five days for providers, were introduced. DLT, or Distributed Ledger Technology, was introduced for tracking promotional messages.
Some measures were also taken against AI-generated or robo-calling, with detection systems also using AI. Restrictions were imposed on bulk calling, and campaigns were held urging spam reporting.
How are spam callers bypassing restrictions?
Though these actions helped disconnect many numbers, the problem is scaling faster. SIMs are cheaper, automation is easily available, and spammers use new tactics, always staying one step ahead, even as telecom operators face pressure and fines.
One major issue is UTMs using normal-looking phone numbers, thus bypassing the 140-series rules and DND. New technologies like spoofing and number rotation are also being deployed. This means frequent changes in spam caller numbers, with spammers using SIM farms and bulk cheap connections.
AI is widely used for automation, including robo-diallers and voice cloning for scale and realism.
There is also cross-border or VoIP routing of spam calls. Spammers get numbers from data leaks involving apps, websites or breaches. A2P, or application-to-person calling, is also on the rise.
In short, DND registration is not enough, and phone blocking alone does not help fight the spam ecosystem. The government and telecom operators are acting more aggressively than before, but low operational costs and evolving technology continue to keep spam volumes high.
