If you are one of those unlucky people who have a phone number in Korea that receives a lot of spam calls, here's a very simple way of blocking a lot of those calls automatically. And yes, it's much easier than trying to get a new phone number and hoping that one isn't a huge spam target.
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| Kakao's Spam Call Blocking setting |
It turns out that the Kakao Talk app has a special integration with the Korea Consumer Protection Agency's "Do Not Call" list.
It's built into Kakao Pay, but you don't have to actively use Kakao Pay to make it work. With a few taps, you can register your number on the list and stop getting so many spam calls.
Put simply:
KakaoTalk -> More -> Pay -> Spam call blocking -> Join -> Agree
That's enough to apparently greatly reduce your spam calls.
Here's a visual walkthrough.
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| 1. Go to the "More" (3 dots) tab and tap "Pay" to open KakaoPay. Warning: you must be able to verify your identity via phone SMS for this step, assuming you aren't already registered with KakaoPay. |
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| 2. In the "All" settings, find the listing for "광고 전화 차단하기" (Spam call blocking) |
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| 3. Hit the big yellow button labeled Spam Call Blocking |
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| 4. Agree to the terms and hit the big yellow "Agree and Start" button |
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| 5. And that's it! Your number is registered. This big yellow button now is for sharing this feature with friends, so you can just skip it. Relax and enjoy fewer spam calls. |
This won't apply only to Kakao voice calls or etc., this is for real phone calls you are receiving. If for some reason you want to de-register yourself from the Do Not Call list, you can follow basically the same method.
You can also add/remove yourself from this governmental list on its website, if you don't want to or can't do it via KakaoTalk, here:
https://www.donotcall.go.kr/
Funnily enough, I can't do this via KakaoTalk, because years ago Kakao Pay decided it didn't like my ID verification and somehow blacklisted me from re-signing up for Pay. Very annoying and I gave up trying to fix it. I moved on to using Naver Pay and am more satisfied with it anyway. Maybe someday I'll contact their customer service and try to sort it out. Maybe.
If you still have spam troubles, try either WhosCall or WhoWho.
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