In the first half of last year, the surge in spam reports returned to a downward trend after six months, with a decline of about 30% compared to the first half.
On the 27th, the Korea Communications Commission and the Korea Internet & Security Agency announced the '2024 spam distribution status.' In order to prevent damage to the public from malicious messages related to illegal lending, adult content, and gambling, the Commission releases the 'spam distribution status' twice a year.
The 'spam distribution status' is investigated in two areas: the 'average monthly spam receipt per person' through text messages, voice calls, and emails, and the 'spam report and detection results' blocked either through user reports to the Korea Internet & Security Agency or via its detection system. The survey on spam receipt volume for the second half of 2024 was conducted from November 5 to 11 last year, targeting 3,000 citizens aged 12 to 69 who use mobile phones and emails nationwide.
The survey results confirmed that the illegal spam, which surged in the first half of last year, has significantly decreased across all categories in the second half. This is the first decrease across all areas in the past five years. Notably, the spam receipt volume and the number of reports and detections for the entire year decreased by approximately 29.0% and 29.7%, respectively, in the second half compared to the first half, confirming that government measures have had a substantial impact.
Previously, the government established and implemented a 'Comprehensive Countermeasure to Prevent Illegal Spam' in November last year, which included strong measures to eradicate illegal spam. The comprehensive countermeasures include imposing penalty surcharges on mobile carriers, message relayers, and resellers that neglect illegal spam, restricting the entry of ineligible businesses into the mass messaging market, and expelling problematic businesses. To minimize spam damage to users, a dual blocking system was established from sending to receipt, and measures to strengthen the blocking system for illegal spam originating from abroad were also implemented.
In particular, the decrease in illegal spam in the second half is analyzed as the effect of urgent inspections on mass messaging service providers, cooperation with Samsung Electronics to block spam messages within smartphones, and a prohibition on sending from the sending phase for problematic businesses (blacklisted). According to the survey in the second half of last year, the total spam receipt volume for the target users was 11.60 messages, a reduction of 4.74 messages compared to 16.34 messages in the first half. The number of spam reports and detections was 159.52 million, down about 29.7% or 67.28 million from 226.80 million in the first half.
The average spam receipt volume per person via mobile text messages was 7.32 messages, a decline of 4.27 messages compared to 11.59 messages in the first half. However, financial and gambling type spam, which induce investment, still accounted for 62.6%, underscoring the need for user vigilance. The average spam receipt volume per person via voice calls remained steady at 1.53 messages, and the receipt volume through emails was 2.75 messages, a decrease of 0.47 messages compared to the first half.
The number of spam reports and detections blocked by the Korea Internet & Security Agency was 159.52 million, representing a decrease of about 29.7% from 226.80 million in the first half.
Of this, the total number of spam reports and detections related to mobile text messages was 150.20 million, a decrease of 29% or 61.30 million compared to 211.50 million in the first half. Looking at the distribution of text spam by sending route, domestic text spam accounted for approximately 53.9%, a decrease of 22.5 percentage points from 76.4% in the first half, whereas the ratio of international text spam increased to 46.1%, up 22.5 percentage points from 23.6% in the first half.