SK Telink "00X International Calls Are Spam, Do Not Answer Under Any Circumstances"

Top 10 Countries Sending Spam Internationally in 2019 Revealed

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The country from which the most spam international calls originate has been identified as the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.

SK Telink disclosed on the 16th the top 10 countries that made the most spam calls based on the analysis of spam calls blocked by its international call service '00700' last year.

The number one source of international spam calls was Vanuatu (15% of total, country code 678), a South Pacific island nation. Second was Samoa (14%, country code 685), third Papua New Guinea (11%, country code 675), fourth Tonga (9%, country code 676), and fifth Nauru (8%, country code 674).

All top five countries are South Pacific island nations, where making calls incurs international settlement fees ranging from 363 to 4,160 KRW per minute due to poor international communication infrastructure. The countries ranked 6th to 10th were Lithuania (3%, country code 370), Burundi (3%, country code 257), the Republic of Chad (2%, country code 235), Poland (2%, country code 485), and Algeria (2%, country code 213).

International spam calls are illegal acts of making abnormal calls from overseas to Korea. Most international spam involves "one-ring spam" used for phone scams or advertising spam and voice phishing related to illegal gambling, loan solicitations, and more.

"One-ring spam" is a method where a call is made from overseas to Korea using numbers like "00X-678-XXXXXXX," ringing the phone once or twice before hanging up, prompting the recipient to call back the number. If the recipient calls back based only on the missed call record, they must pay not only the international call charge but also additional service fees.

If you see missed call records from unfamiliar country codes such as '685', '675', '676', or '678', it is highly likely to be "one-ring spam." If you accidentally call back, immediately press the end call button and confirm that the call has been disconnected.

SK Telink's '00700' announced that ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, when international call usage surges, it will designate countries with high frequencies of international spam calls as special monitoring countries and monitor international spam calls 24 hours a day.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.