There’s nothing worse than seeing your Spam folder getting filled with emails. Even though you can delete them with one click, spam statistics show that many people still fall for the famous Nigerian Prince scheme.
Businesses also suffer from spam emails and may lose up to $20.5 billion per year. What is even worse, spam has expanded to calls and messages.
In 2020, Americans received 54 billion spam calls. When it comes to SMS, more than 55 billion messages bothered US citizens.
Spam Facts (Editor’s Choice)
- Russia accounts for 24.77% of global email spam.
- Global daily spam volume reached a peak in July 2021.
- Overall, spammers get one reply for every 12,500,000 sent emails.
- Americans got more than 54 billion spam calls in 2020.
- The US is the country with the most spam emails sent daily, totaling 8.6 billion.
- There were 55.4 billion spam texts in the US in 2020.
- In March 2019, Twitter systems caught 9.9 million spammy accounts.
- Businesses lose about $20.5 billion annually on spam.
Global Spam Statistics
Spam is present in all countries and seems to be unstoppable. Spam messages flooded peoples’ inboxes at the beginning of the pandemic, and many of them also included scams. Overall, 122.3 billion spam emails are out there every day.
1. Health-related spam messages accounted for 39% of the total spam volume.
(Statista)
Moreover, that spam related to products was second with 12%, and adult content and extortion share third place with 10%, statistics on spam emails show.
2. Russia accounts for 24.77% of the global email spam.
(Securelist)
Germany is second with 14.12% of the global email spam traffic. It is followed by the US with 10.46% and China with 8.73%.
3. Spam emails accounted for 45.1% of emails in March 2021.
(Statista)
Still, the global email spam rate dropped, according to spam statistics from 2021. For comparison, it was 55% in 2018, while it was 69% back in 2012.
4. A total of 122.3 billion spam emails are sent daily.
(Helpmepcs)
Overall, that’s about 85% of the world’s daily email traffic. That’s why email security, like comprehensive email threat protection, is very important.
5. Global daily spam volume reached a peak in July 2021 with 282.93 sent spam.
(Statista)
During the month, a total of 336.41 billion emails were sent. Moreover, the number of spam mail dropped to 65.50 billion in August, but increased again in September and reached 88.88 billion.
6. Scams and fraud make up about 2.5% of spam messages.
(Velocitytepephone)
Spam vs. scam statistics show that, although spam emails often look like a scam, only a small percentage of spam messages belong to this group. What’s more, ID theft and phishing make up about 73% of this number.
7. Overall, spammers get one reply for every 12,500,000 emails sent.
(Guardian Digital)
Spam emails account for 54% of the global email traffic, according to the latest spam statistics. However, that is more than enough since so many spam emails are sent out every day. What’s more, those who receive these emails usually cover the expenses of making them.
8. The United States is the home of 7 out of the top 10 spammers.
(Propeller)
The other two are based in Ukraine, and one is from Russia. In addition, spam trends show that 100 spam gangs send 80% of all spam to North America and Europe.
9. The US is the country with the most spam emails sent daily—a total of 8.6 billion.
(Statista)
As of October 2021, the US holds first place in the number of spam emails sent out daily. The residents of China receive about 8.53 billion, and Russians about 8.09 billion spam emails daily, spam traffic statistics also show.
10. A total of 52% of companies state that minimizing spam is their top priority.
(iPage)
When it comes to businesses, they are often victimized with spam. However, anti-spam measures give some hope in the fight against unwanted email. To protect themselves, companies can strengthen their email filters, get domain privacy, register a junk email address or try some other method.
The US Mobile Spam Statistics
Unfortunately, spam didn’t stay in the inbox. Instead, it moved to mobile phones. So much that there were about 54 billion spam calls and over 55 billion messages hitting Americans in 2020. Moreover, the most popular type of spam call is a scam.
11. Americans got more than 54 billion spam calls in 2020.
(Vanphahotels)
Spam phone calls are also common in the US. Still, statistics about spam note that the number from 2020 actually represents a 10% decrease from 2019.
12. In 2020, there were 55.4 billion spam texts in the US.
(Vanphahotels)
Moreover, Americans received more than 54 billion spam calls. These numbers show us that a total of 37% of all messages were spam, compared to 25% of all calls in the US.
13. An average American received 200 spam calls and 264 spam messages in 2020.
(Vanphahotels)
The latest spam stats show that fraudulent phone calls generated a loss of $1,170, while text messages incurred a median loss of $800, and emails a median loss of $400. The calls that got through were also effective, resulting in increased losses year-over-year.
14. About 56 million US citizens have lost $19.7 billion to phone scams.
(Vanphahotels)
Since there was a high volume of spam calls, it’s hard to determine the total losses. Moreover, messaging spam statistics show that 22% of surveyed people have been the victims of a spam text or call with an average loss of $351.
15. Scams are the most popular type of spam calls in 14% of cases.
(Vanphahotels)
Moreover, religious scam calls account for 11.7%, vacation offers comprise 9.9%, and credit card offers are also common scams with 9.5%.
Social Media Spam Statistics
Social media platforms leave a lot of space for spam. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other networks shut down fake accounts and do all they can to minimize spam. Unfortunately, 47% of social media users still see too much spam on their feeds.
16. About 23 social media accounts continuously get spam messages.
(Hubbion)
In fact, there was a 355% increase in social spam in the first quarter of the year. Moreover, spamming statistics on social media show that 5 out of 7 new accounts created on social media are fake, while 1 out of 200 messages is spam.
17. Facebook took action on about 1.2 billion pieces of spam content in the fourth quarter of 2021.
(Statista)
That was an increase from 777.2 million in the previous quarter, according to the latest spam filter statistics. In addition, Facebook has also invested in enhanced technology that should detect automated and coordinated spam.
18. Instagram has about 150 million fake accounts.
(DigitalInformationWorld)
Moreover, it has about a billion active accounts. This means that about 15% of all accounts on Instagram are spam. Instagram users create fake accounts for many reasons, and one of them is spreading spam. Internet spam statistics show that these accounts usually post random comments that are often sexual.
19. Twitter systems catch 9.9 million spammy accounts.
(Twitter)
That’s an increase from 6.4 million caught in the previous year. Moreover, Twitter now removes 214% more accounts for violating spam policies every year.
20. A total of 560,509 spam content and accounts were reported on Snapchat.
(Snap)
Statistics on spam further show that 243,729 pieces of content and 120,898 accounts were enforced. For comparison, the platform received 12,101,326 reports in total, and 6,629,165 content and 2,510,798 unique accounts were enforced.
21. TikTok removed 9,499,881 spam accounts in the second half of 2020.
(TikTok)
Moreover, this platform removed 6,144,040 spam accounts in the first half of 2020. According to spam statistics, these accounts generated 5,226,800 spam videos that were also removed.
22. A total of 47% of social media users report seeing more spam in their social media feeds.
(Hubspot)
However, the definition of spam is subjective, and users may report something that’s objectively not spam. On the other hand, only 20% of users reported seeing less spam in their feeds.
Email Spam Costs
While spam might be cheap to generate, it takes money away from those who receive it. For example, businesses may lose over $20 billion annually because of spam. What’s more, the famous Nigerian Prince scam still generates about $700,000 in revenue annually.
23. Spammers earn about $7,000 daily.
(Groupmail)
That’s over $3.5 million annually just from spamming your inbox, email spam statistics show. Moreover, the spam worldwide productivity cost is estimated to be $50 billion.
24. Businesses lose about $20.5 billion annually on spam.
(Spamlaws)
What’s more, spammers don’t just target individuals. The cost of spam is high for businesses as well, as the average yearly loss per employee due to spam is approximately $1,934.
25. If spam keeps flourishing, it can cost companies up to $257 billion in the next few years.
(Spamlaws)
This loss is mainly related to decreased productivity and technical expenses. Moreover, statistics about email spam also show that an estimated current cost of spam for businesses is $49 annually per inbox.
26. Nigerian Prince fraud still gets scammers about $700,000 annually.
(CNBC)
By now, everyone should know that a prince from Nigeria didn’t reach them out via email. Unfortunately, this scam has got scammers about $2,133 in the last three years. It’s one of the longest-running scams on the internet and, as long as it’s working, scammers will use it.
Conclusion
People tend to see spam as boring and unwanted content. Still, spam statistics show that about 2.5% of spam messages are also scams. Unfortunately, spam brings in over $3 million to spammers each year, while Nigerian letters alone get scammers about $700,000.
What’s more, spammers are also present on social media, and they use phone calls and messages to spam and scam their victims. So far, the only way to protect oneself is to be informed and vigilant, as spammers may also impersonate someone you know.
People Also Ask
As of March 2021, spam emails accounted for 45.1% of all email traffic. Russia had the largest share of unsolicited email messages, but the US is still home to 7 out of the top 10 global spammers.
Even though these numbers are high, they’re still dropping, compared to 2018 and 2019 when the rates were 55% and 69%, respectively. Unfortunately, more email spam turns out to be malicious and is sent to steal your identity, make you a victim of ransomware, or hijack your system.
Although many people can easily recognize spam emails and filter them, they are still highly effective. For example, an average spammer earns about $7,000 per day. On the other hand, spammers barely spend any money to conduct fraud.
It’s estimated that they get one reply for every 12,500,000 emails sent, but that’s still enough since spammers send billions of emails annually. They often target businesses, as they can earn more by scamming a business than an individual.
Phishing is the most common type of email spam at the moment. These types of emails are designed to represent an individual or organization and make you click a link or give sensitive data to the sender.
Overall, advertising is present in 36% of spam emails. Adult-related content is present in about 31.7% of spam messages, while financial-related spam is the third most popular form at 26.5%. On the other hand, scams and frauds exist in only 2.5% of spam emails.
Spam is considered rude, but if you wish, you can do so in multiple ways. For example, if you want to spam on social media, create a fake account and post too many unrelated hashtags or tag your friends and get into their messages with random memes.
If you want to spam on websites and blogs, leave random comments with the link to your blog. When it comes to emails, purchase the data from people and businesses in your niche and flood their inboxes with your offers.
It might seem strange that spam messages get money. However, since most spammers sell some products and send millions of emails daily, chances are they’ll make sales.
Some spam emails are evident scams, yet people still fall for them. For example, many will help the Nigerian Prince or click the link to a phishing website that collects their information to sell it later. Spam emails can also contain ransomware, and those who go through the attack will often pay the ransom to get their data back.
Spam emails have become so common that a total of 122.3 billion emails are sent daily. This accounts for about 85% of the global daily email traffic. Spamming reached a peak in July 2021, with 283 billion spam emails from a total of 336.41 billion emails sent globally. However, the overall number of spam emails is going down, spam statistics show.
