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Scams in India are no longer just a nuisance; they have become a persistent threat, targeting people across age groups and income levels. Against this backdrop, Truecaller rolled out a new feature, Family Protection, in India, allowing one household member to manage scam-call settings for up to five people from a single interface.
“We felt we could take it to the next level by empowering family members, and essentially anybody who could benefit from the collective intelligence, to be able to protect people from fraud,” said Kunal Dua, Chief Product Officer at Truecaller.
The idea, Dua told indianexpress.com, is straightforward but powerful, and gives the most tech-savvy member of a family the tools to shield everyone else. “The idea is that this acts like a safety net. You can act as the safety net for parents or other members of your family or group who are perhaps not as tech-savvy or aware,” Dua explained.
The new feature lets a designated family admin, what Dua calls the household CTO, add up to four other members, manage their spam and block settings remotely, and receive alerts when a family member receives a call from a known fraudster.
Also Read | How native is Truecaller on iPhones?
And, if the situation looks dangerous enough, the admin can remotely disconnect the call. The hang-up function works when the family member being protected is on Android; on iPhone, notification and management features are available, but the remote hang-up is not.
It is a free feature, which matters in a country where digital fraud has become an epidemic, cutting across income levels and age groups. The Truecaller executive added that the feature’s design is centred on a trusted family member acting as a protector.
When asked if elders are more vulnerable to the rise of sophisticated scams, Dua said it could happen to anybody. “We see people who are really tech-savvy, digitally native people in their 20s and 30s fall for these kinds of scams as well.”
A relentlessly shifting landscape
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With each passing day, scamsters are deploying more sophisticated methods to trap unsuspecting users. When asked about trends in recent times, Dua pointed to delivery-related fraud and APK-based attacks as the two currently dominant vectors. The latter involves fraudulent Android apps sent via messaging platforms that mimic banking software or investment platforms.
“The first time you put in some money, it even gives you the feeling that your money is growing,” he said about the fake investment apps. “You invest more money, and then the money is all gone.”
The more persistent problem, though, is speed. Fraudsters cycle through phone numbers rapidly, meaning a number flagged by the community today may already be abandoned by tomorrow. This is why Dua sees Family Protection’s current form as the beginning. The next evolution, he said, is something he calls a ‘virtual family member’, an AI agent that listens in on calls from unknown numbers and flags suspicious conversational patterns in real time. And this happens even before a number has been reported as fraudulent.
“Fraud detection is a bit of a cat-and-mouse game, honestly,” Dua acknowledged. “By the time we get enough reports for a number, that number may no longer be in use.”
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Dua shared that the AI-listening concept is already live in a limited form: Truecaller’s Assistant product for Premium users in India. It can detect behavioural red flags, not just known scam keywords, but also the psychological architecture of a fraud call.
Also Read | Truecaller rolls out free AI-powered voicemail for Android users in India
The manufactured urgency, the pressure tactics, the scripted fear. “There are certain behavioural patterns that remain consistent even when the subject matter changes,” Dua explained, adding that the ambition is to extend that protection broadly, as an optional feature available to all users regardless of whether their number appears on any fraud list.
The rampant rise of AI voice cloning
On the question of AI voice cloning, a threat many expect to explode, Dua offered a balanced view. He said Truecaller has already built an AI voice call scanner with over 95 per cent detection accuracy, but the threat has not yet materialised at the scale once feared. “Even though it hasn’t quite taken off as a fraud vector yet, we are definitely watching out for it,” he said.
Privacy is inevitably a concern when a product involves one person monitoring another’s calls. When asked about this, Dua emphasised that the system is designed with restraint. “What you do on your device stays completely on your device and is not shared with anyone else,” he said.
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An alert is triggered only when a fraudulent call is detected, and there is no logging of who called whom or for how long.
Beyond technology, when asked for advice, Dua offered a humane response.
“Stay in touch with your family. Fraudsters tend to target people who are feeling lonely or disconnected. I know we all lead busy lives, but staying in touch, checking in with them, is one of the most effective things you can do.”
