Caller identification app Truecaller has revealed that it is working on integrating its service into WhatsApp and other messaging apps. This will help WhatsApp users identify spam callers when receiving voice calls through those apps just like how Truecaller works with regular calls.
Truecaller CEO Alan Mamedi told Reuters that the feature is currently in the beta phase and that it will be rolled out globally later this month, although no exact launch date was given for the update. Mamedi also did not specify which other messaging apps will be supported by this feature. Coincidentally, it has been reported that WhatsApp is working on enabling users to silence all calls from unknown numbers.
According to the company’s statistics, Malaysians received an average of eight million spam calls every single month in 2021, ranking our country at number 32 globally in terms of spam call volume. In that same year, Truecaller claimed that its app saw a 42.5% growth in active users in Malaysia.
Last year, the company announced that it was partnering some several Android smartphone manufacturers to pre-install its app in select markets, including Malaysia, Indonesia, India, and Latin America. It did not reveal which brands it was working with but it said that its app will be pre-installed in over 100 million smartphones over the next two years.
Malaysian authorities have recently been cracking down on scam calls and phishing through several prevention and identification methods. For one thing, the PDRM’s Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) partnered up with Whoscall, another caller identification app, to provide users with verified information by pulling data from the Semak Mule CCID System database to flag scam calls.
Another move that has been taken is that starting this month, Malaysian telcos will block any SMS messages that contain URL links. This is to prevent users from unknowingly opening malicious links under the impression of legitimacy, although texts from business shortcodes can still send URLs for now.
(Source: Reuters)
