Truecaller woos India telcos with new AI-based SMS fraud app

Truecaller woos India telcos with new AI-based SMS fraud app
Image credit: Truecaller

Sweden-based Truecaller said it wants to work with Indian telcos and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to use an AI-powered caller ID app to tackle SMS and call-based phishing scams.

Truecaller recently introduced its SMS fraud protection solution, which it says uses AI to detect messages from potentially fraudulent numbers.

The solution alerts the user with a red message ID warning notification that the message is “Likely Fraud”. The message remains on the screen until the user has viewed it and manually dismissed it as either safe or spam.

“We’d be happy to work with both the regulator and carriers on this side. In fact, we are in conversations with them,” Nami Zarringhalam, chief strategy officer and co-founder of Truecaller was quoted as saying by the Economic Times.

A huge market for Truecaller

Truecaller considers India as its biggest market with 250 million subscribers. It is bullish on the market and has recently opened its office in Bengaluru, its first one outside Sweden, housing about 200 employees.

Zarringhalam said that the company is in talks with Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea to provide them with its AI-based technology.

His comments come at a time when TRAI is planning to push telcos to use technologies like AI and machine learning to curb unsolicited commercial communications (UCC).

TRAI has asked all telcos to showcase their anti-phishing solutions. Third-ranked telco Vodafone Idea responded by showcasing a UCC solution in partnership with Tanla Platforms to curb phishing and fraudulent messages.

TRAI wants CNAP

TRAI is already working on recommendations for the introduction of Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) in telecom networks. Once implemented, CNAP will force telcos to display caller name IDs to consumers while receiving a call, even when the receiver has not saved the number.

Zarringhalam lauded the CNAP initiative as “a welcome step by TRAI as they are looking at this problem and seeing that it is an issue in society that we should try to address.”

He added that it was good that TRAI was taking the problem seriously. “There are so many stories about people, for instance, senior citizens, who lost their savings by being defrauded and then the kind of shame and guilt that they might feel on an emotional level,” he told the publication.

Related article: Indian court directs regulator to enforce regulations curbing UCC via SMS

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