A graphic depicting the concept of a Robo-Call

According to data from voice security firm Hiya, the United Kingdom continues to be the European country with the highest fraud call rate at around 9.3% in 2023. Its recent data notes that around 27.3% of all incoming calls from non-contacts in the UK are unwanted, with 9.3% being fraud calls.

The high number of fraud calls in the United Kingdom continues to rise despite efforts from the national government to crack down on cold call abuse by other entities. Such calls are a leading contributor to fraud in the country, with an estimated £4.2 billion lost from UK consumers in 2022.

The perils of spam calls will continue to rise with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) tools this year. Separate data from Hiya notes that the increase in AI-generated voice clone scams may result in a great chance of success for fraudsters who want to fool consumers.

Amidst all these issues, it is essential that, as a consumer, you take proactive steps to secure your personal contact information. In such a way, your data will not fall to fraudsters trying to fool you with offers but also from data brokers who may sell your data to fraudulent entities.

Moreover, utilising data removal services such as Incogni will be a huge help in terms of not only keeping your personal information off from data brokers but also keeps your number away from the prying eyes of fraudsters wanting to milk out money from fooling you.

Why Spam Calls Are Detrimental to Consumers

The first layer of a fraud call is often rooted in consumers falling into phishing scams. Phishing happens when a user unknowingly inputs their personal contact information into a dubious site or channel, portraying it as a legitimate business. It can pass off as a login attempt notification disguise or that a user has received funds on their online banking account.

Once the information has been taken, it can be transferred from one scammer to another, trying to have you bit from a scam bait they had set up. They could pretend to be from your bank or even represent an e-commerce company regarding your transactions. While most fraud calls are just outright annoying, a handful of them often sound legitimate but, in reality, hide behind a facade.

With this issue, it is no wonder why many consumers feel every other call from an unknown number–even your trusted contacts–is now a fraudulent facade.

To combat this, users must take initial steps to block unknown numbers–but always remember that its limitation may include important calls from those unknown numbers. From this, you can screen the numbers that call you and block fraud. The issue is that many fraudulent entities are abusing VoIP services, and this won't stop unless their account is reported to the VoIP provider.

Another thing users can do is request information from data broker websites and databases to be removed from their databases. If you are unaware of this, data brokers collect and share your data, meaning details such as your name and contact info can be circulating online without your knowledge or consent.

Why Incogni Is the Best Data Removal Service

With Incogni, you will no longer have to manually contact every single data broker in the world to have your data removed. It also saves you time from keeping track of every data removal request and monitoring filing legal work for data brokers to have your data removed from their databases.

The data stored from these brokers can be used for marketing, recruitment, financial, and health purposes or even further scams and phishing attempts. These can result in unwanted ads, influence loan eligibility or insurance rates, and increase the risk of attacks.

Without intervention with services like Incogni, brokers will still get sent multiple data removal requests regularly because they tend to collect the person's information again after some time.

To move your way towards a spam call-free life and secure your data online, Incogni subscribers can get and keep their data off the market with a 1-year subscription at a 50% discount (£5.13/mo). Their service lists data brokers likely to have customers' information (such as Social Security number, physical address, phone number, or email address).

Moreover, users can monitor the process (potential databases found, requests sent, requests completed) on their Incogni dashboard. For more details on how to unlock Incogni's full features, check the link here.