Q3 Public Offering Fever and Cryptocurrency Rebound... 'Illegal Spam' Also Up by 7 Million Cases

Spam Blocking App 'Whoscall' Whoscall & Company
Q3 Reported Spam Statistics Analysis Results
7.56 Million Cases Received... 1.41 Million More Than Previous Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] In the third quarter of this year, amid the frenzy of large IT IPO subscriptions and the rebound of the cryptocurrency market, the number of stock and investment solicitation text messages surged, pushing the total number of spam reports to exceed 7 million for the first time in a quarter.

Huhoo & Company, which provides the spam blocking application (app) 'Huhoo,' announced on the 24th that an analysis of spam statistics reported by Huhoo users in the third quarter showed that 7.56 million spam reports were received, an increase of about 1.41 million compared to the same period last year and 640,000 compared to the previous quarter. This is the first time since statistics have been compiled that the number of reports in a quarter has surpassed 7 million.

A notable point in the third quarter spam statistics is the rebound of the recently sluggish 'stock and investment' category. The number of reports in this category reached approximately 2.29 million, up 58% year-on-year and 22% quarter-on-quarter. Since Huhoo began compiling spam statistics, this category has surpassed 2 million reports in a quarter for the second time, following 'loan solicitation.'

The IPO frenzy driven by the consecutive listing announcements of companies that attracted national attention, such as KakaoBank and Krafton in July and Kakao Games in early August, appears to have influenced the increase in spam reports. Additionally, as Bitcoin, which hit its lowest point of the year in July, began to rebound in the third quarter, spam reports related to cryptocurrencies have also been on the rise.

With the presidential election next year, spam in the 'survey' category, which is influenced by political issues, also increased significantly. The number of reports in the 'survey' category was about 37,000, a 19% increase from the previous quarter, showing the second-highest growth rate after the 'stock and investment' category.

The most reported category was 'loan solicitation,' with about 2.4 million reports, up 65% year-on-year and 7% quarter-on-quarter, maintaining its growth trend. As it has become difficult to obtain loans from primary financial institutions recently, loan marketing by secondary financial institutions and non-institutional financial entities is expected to increase, so the upward trend in 'loan solicitation' spam is likely to continue for the time being.

Heo Tae-beom, CEO of Huhoo & Company, said, “Spam scenarios change according to social interests,” adding, “Whenever individuals start something new, such as opening an account, applying for support funds, or requesting a loan, they should always keep in mind that they can become targets of spam.”

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