Spam on the Rise Amid Recession... 3rd Quarter 'Stock and Investment Solicitation' Up 1.5 Times Year-on-Year

Analysis Results of Spam Reports Received by 'HooHoo'

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] The total number of spam reports received by the spam blocking application 'WhoWho' in the third quarter reached 7.44 million, similar to the level of the third quarter last year. However, stock and investment solicitation spam, which exploits anxiety during the recession, surged to 1.5 times the previous year.

VP, the provider of the WhoWho app, announced the spam statistics reported by WhoWho users in the third quarter of this year on the 28th. The total number of spam reports in the third quarter was 7.44 million, similar to the third quarter of last year. Compared to the second quarter, which recorded the highest number of spam reports ever, it decreased by more than 1 million.

The most reported type of spam in the third quarter was related to 'stocks and investments.' Due to the prolonged economic downturn caused by high oil prices and high interest rates, stock and investment spam exploiting anxious individual investment sentiment accounted for the largest portion with about 3.42 million reports, making up 46% of the total reports. This is a 49% increase compared to the same period last year, and the number and proportion have continued to rise since the third quarter of last year.

Spam types that noticeably increased in proportion include illegal game and gambling, and illegal entertainment venue promotional spam. Since April, as social distancing measures have gradually eased, spam related to gambling games or entertainment venues increased, reaching about 1.08 million reports, approximately 15% higher than the previous quarter.

On the other hand, reports of 'loan solicitation' spam recorded about 1.3 million, a decrease of about 33% compared to about 2 million in the previous quarter. This is interpreted as reflecting the atmosphere of a sharp decline in personal loan demand due to the base interest rate hike. Compared to about 2.4 million in the same period last year and about 1.93 million in the first quarter of this year, it decreased by 1.1 million (46%) and 630,000 (33%), respectively.

Other spam reports related to 'designated driver' services recorded about 13,000 in the third quarter, slightly down from about 17,000 in the previous quarter. VP expects related reports to increase again in the fourth quarter, when various gatherings increase in earnest during the year-end and New Year holidays.

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