Spam messages to mobile phones reached more than 200 billion in the first half of 2013, according to a survey, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday.

The survey, by a website headquartered in Beijing, said that 59 percent of spam messages were for advertising. However, even though only 1.5 percent of spam messages involved fraud, they resulted in economic losses of more than 30 million yuan ($4.9 million) to mobile phone users in the country in the first half of 2013.

The survey found that the mobile phone users in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou as well as Jiangsu province received two spam messages daily on average.