Truecaller is reportedly working to improve their spam detection methodologies. In a recent webinar organized by the Sweden-India Business Council, the company’s CEO said Truecaller will soon detect phone scammers and fraudsters in real-time.
“What we have seen is an increase in scam calls. People who are claiming to be someone else from the bank etc … In times like these people are worried about their financial situation. You say what happened with Yes Bank in India. And then you have these bad actors who try to use the situation,” said Truecaller CEO Alan Mamedi.
To make this possible, the company is “finetuning” their algorithms based on user reports to verify the legitimacy of the call. “These scammers need to be clever in order to survive. But we are trying to be five steps ahead.”
This way, Truecaller aims to reduce the number of financial frauds happening across the country through vishing (voice phishing). Voice phishing refers to impersonation done through social engineering techniques via voice calls for financial or identity theft.
While the idea sounds futuristic, it might come with its own privacy implications. For starters, since the technology works “real-time”, calls will be analyzed and processed as you speak in order to detect if it is from a malicious actor.
In Truecaller’s defense, Mamedi says all the data is stored and processed in Indian servers. “We did this even before Data Protection Bill became a raging debate. Indians trust our brand. Being close to them adds to it. When data and servers stay close to customers the experience also comes faster.”, he added.
