Mathew Riddle was gatvol of asking telemarketers to remove his number, only for another unknown caller to phone the next day, so he did what good problem-solvers do: he built something.
Johannesburg, South Africa (12 July 2026) – FokOffMense. No, we’re not swearing at you. Well, technically we are, but it’s also the name of a new proudly South African app and… probably the exact thing most of us have said when an unknown number lights up our phone for the fourth time in one day.
You answer an unknown number. It might be business… or important. Then someone tries to sell you insurance, a funeral plan, offer you a loan you never asked for, try to sell your house, or tell you about an incredible deal that absolutely cannot wait until tomorrow. You ask them not to call again, to remove your number. They promise they will. And then, two days later, a different number calls with a remarkably similar script.
There are already apps and platforms dedicated to identifying spammers, scammers and unwanted calls but this one caught our attention. Obviously. The name had pulled us in. We had to know more, and it turns out that behind the brilliantly South African branding is a pretty serious idea about privacy, community, stopping the irritation of unwanted calls and helping ordinary people understand the rights they already have.
Mathew Riddle created FokOffMense, which is now available on Android and soon to be launched on Apple, after becoming frustrated by the same calls so many South Africans receive every day.
“Like a lot of South Africans, I was tired of spam calls that keep coming even after you say ‘remove me.’ Blocking one number doesn’t fix the problem, your details are already on someone’s list, and tomorrow it’s a new number,” he explained to Good Things Guy.
That frustration led Mathew to look beyond simply blocking calls. South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act, better known as POPIA, gives people rights when it comes to how their personal information is collected, stored and used. You can ask companies to delete your data, opt out of direct marketing and escalate matters when your requests are ignored.
The problem is that knowing you have rights and actually knowing how to use them are two very different things.
“I built FokOffMense because POPIA gives ordinary people real rights. Ask companies to delete your data, opt out of marketing, and escalate if they ignore you but the paperwork is intimidating. Most people don’t have time to draft legal letters and chase replies.”
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The platform, which has free and premium versions, helps users report and block nuisance callers and senders, check whether their email addresses have appeared in known data breaches and create a formal paper trail when dealing with companies that hold their personal information. It can send POPIA deletion and opt-out letters, track responses, remind users when companies stop responding and help with escalation to South Africa’s Information Regulator when needed.
And yes, the name is completely intentional.
“The name is deliberately South African. It’s the thing we all want to say when the phone rings at dinner but instead of just swearing at the caller, the app helps you do something useful: report, block, and formally push back under POPIA. The humour gets attention; the product is serious.”
But FokOffMense isn’t only about protecting yourself. It is built around the idea that one person’s action can potentially help the next person too.
When a user reports a spammer, the block immediately works for them. If enough people report the same company or number, it can be flagged for the wider community, meaning someone else may be protected before they ever have to answer that call.
“That’s Community Shield. When you report a spammer, your block works for you straight away. If enough people report the same company or number, it gets flagged for the wider community so the next person might never have to take that call at all.”
And that’s the good news here. While the name may make you laugh, the bigger story is about making people feel less powerless.
“So it’s not just ‘make the phone stop ringing.’ It’s ‘get your data off the lists’ with evidence if you need to take it further.”
International platforms already offer powerful caller identification and spam-blocking tools but Mathew wanted to build something around South African legislation and South African realities.
“International apps are built for their markets. Truecaller is brilliant at telling you who’s calling but it doesn’t file a POPIA letter, track a 30-day reply deadline, or help you lodge a complaint with South Africa’s Information Regulator.”
“POPIA is our law. The forms, the timelines, the escalation path that’s what SA consumers actually have. Copying a US or EU privacy tool and bolting POPIA on later would always feel foreign.”
The platform was also designed with local spam culture, lead-selling, WhatsApp and SMS nuisance messages and South African payment systems in mind.
“A South African problem deserves a South African workflow.”
FokOffMense is still new but the early response has already given Mathew an indication of just how widespread the frustration is. Following the platform’s public launch and initial media coverage, hundreds of people signed up in a single day and immediately began filing spam reports and POPIA requests.
Your information belongs to you. And you are allowed to ask questions about who has it, why they have it and what they’re doing with it. Mathew doesn’t believe spam will magically disappear tomorrow. His vision is far more practical: make abusing personal data increasingly difficult and increasingly costly for those doing it.
“The good-news version isn’t that spam disappears overnight. It’s that spam becomes expensive for the companies doing it.”
“When thousands of South Africans stop only blocking numbers and start creating POPIA paper trails… deletion requests, tracked opt-outs, regulator complaints, lead-sellers can’t treat our data as free fuel anymore.”
And that’s why a platform called FokOffMense has managed to turn a collective South African irritation into something surprisingly positive.
The name makes you laugh. The mission makes you think. And hopefully, all those unwanted calls will finally stop.
For more information, click here, or email Matthew directly [email protected].
