--- title: Ring, reject, repeat: South Africa’s spam call crisis description: South Africans are increasingly ignoring calls from unknown numbers due to a surge in spam and scam calls, with over 30 billion spam calls received in 2025 and... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/ring-reject-repeat-south-africa-s-spam-call-crisis-jfp2vmn2x twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Ring, reject, repeat: South Africa’s spam call crisis | daily.dev og:description: South Africans are increasingly ignoring calls from unknown numbers due to a surge in spam and scam calls, with over 30 billion spam calls received in 2025 and... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/ring-reject-repeat-south-africa-s-spam-call-crisis-jfp2vmn2x og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/jFP2Vmn2x.png og:image:alt: Ring, reject, repeat: South Africa’s spam call crisis og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Ring, reject, repeat: South Africa’s spam call crisis **[TechCentral](https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary South Africans are increasingly ignoring calls from unknown numbers due to a surge in spam and scam calls, with over 30 billion spam calls received in 2025 and a 20% year-on-year rise in early 2026. This behavioral shift is affecting mobile operators, though voice revenue decline is primarily driven by the broader migration to data-based communication platforms like WhatsApp, Teams, and Zoom. Operators like Cell C and MTN acknowledge the problem but note spam is not the primary revenue driver. Solutions include AI call screening tools from Truecaller and Apple's native iOS 26 feature, which transcribe incoming calls in real time to help users decide whether to answer. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Free calls, dead voice and Shameel Joosub’s Spanish ghost](https://daily.dev/posts/free-calls-dead-voice-and-shameel-joosub-s-spanish-ghost-0i7xnd9en) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [India forces caller-ID apps to feed spam reports to telcos](https://daily.dev/posts/india-forces-caller-id-apps-to-feed-spam-reports-to-telcos-sdr5v6fva) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [WhatsApp is eating South African operators’ revenue](https://daily.dev/posts/whatsapp-is-eating-south-african-operators-revenue-d16ekg3w7) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Truecaller clashes with India’s telecom regulator over anti-spam rules](https://daily.dev/posts/truecaller-clashes-with-india-s-telecom-regulator-over-anti-spam-rules-y0kyqtogp) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Equal AI raised $30M to screen phone calls for Indians who get 20 spam calls a week](https://daily.dev/posts/equal-ai-raised-30m-to-screen-phone-calls-for-indians-who-get-20-spam-calls-a-week-58gqltk3c) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/ring-reject-repeat-south-africa-s-spam-call-crisis-jfp2vmn2x) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Ring, reject, repeat: South Africa’s spam call crisis","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ring-reject-repeat-south-africa-s-spam-call-crisis-jfp2vmn2x","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/ring-reject-repeat-south-africa-s-spam-call-crisis-jfp2vmn2x"},"datePublished":"2026-04-02T09:08:39.755Z","dateModified":"2026-04-02T09:09:06.881Z","description":"South Africans are increasingly ignoring calls from unknown numbers due to a surge in spam and scam calls, with over 30 billion spam calls received in 2025 and...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/de4e9cfef169dc43fdd435e11215c5a6?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/de4e9cfef169dc43fdd435e11215c5a6?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"TechCentral","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TechCentral","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--RsqLDZrL--/f_auto/v1717745297/logos/techcentral","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/ring-reject-repeat-south-africa-s-spam-call-crisis-jfp2vmn2x","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TechCentral","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Ring, reject, repeat: South Africa’s spam call crisis"}]} ```