A survey participated in by more than 2,000 women has found that one out of every three women, continued to receive inappropriate calls and messages.
The survey was conducted by Truecaller between February 9 and 25 this year among 2,150 women aged 15-35 across 14 cities in India. It was done on a smartphone interface, using a self-complete methodology ensuring short length of interview in an engaging format, Truecaller said in a statement.
According to the survey, Delhi recorded the highest number of harassment calls and messages received by women on a weekly basis. The report revealed that 28 per cent of women from Delhi have reported receiving harassment calls and messages every week, making it the highest in India.
The report showed that out of the surveyed women, who received harassment calls and messages, 52 per cent received unknown calls and SMS with inappropriate content at least once a week.
As many as 74 per cent of calls received were from unknown people to the victim and a staggering 23 per cent calls were made by stalkers followed by 11 per cent calls that were made from a person known to the user.
"Most women were also subjected to unprecedented phishing calls with 53 per cent of them receiving calls from fraudsters seeking to collect sensitive personal data once a week and 8 per cent receiving counterfeit calls almost daily," Truecaller said in a statement.
It said that close to four-fifth (78 per cent) of women reported feeling angry or irritated by harassment calls, while more than one-third felt troubled, worried or frightened.
Furthermore, the report also highlighted that three-fourths (74 per cent) of the women took measures against these calls through various means that included blocking numbers, request for DND activation, shamming on social media and filing complaints with authorities.
There is a 12 per cent increase compared to last year.
According to Truecaller, India receives the maximum number of spam calls in the world, the average spam call received per users has marginally dropped by 1.5 per cent compared to the last year.
"Looking into this year's breakdown of call categorization in India, there has been a substantial increase of spam calls, coming from operators, upselling various offers and balance reminders," it said.
"Also, it seems like scam calls has more than doubled compared to last year – from 3 per cent to 7 per cent..."