{"id":836816,"date":"2025-09-04T09:36:39","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T07:36:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=836816"},"modified":"2025-09-04T09:36:45","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T07:36:45","slug":"big-change-for-truecaller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/it-services\/836816\/big-change-for-truecaller\/","title":{"rendered":"Big change for Truecaller"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Global caller ID service Truecaller is integrating AI deeper into its systems, which will &#8220;interpret&#8221; billions of data signals from users around the world to give &#8220;contextual insights&#8221; on who is calling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The group, which has a user base of 450 million people, said that its AI-driven approach differs from other systems that use a static database or a tag system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The new system should provide AI-generated insights on incoming calls, including summaries of user comments about the caller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This will then flag potential fraud, identify likely spam, or suggest relevant business categories, all in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;This real-time intelligence not only enhances user trust and safety but also reinforces Truecaller\u2019s leadership in the next generation of caller identification technology,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Notably, while the company also offers a Verified Business badge for official brand identities, the majority of contextual insights shown to users are generated dynamically by AI, requiring no manual labelling or business registration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the new AI-driven systems, Truecaller can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Indicate whether the caller is a known fraudster or part of a scam network<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tell if the number is \u201clikely a business\u201d or \u201clikely important\u201d, even if there is not enough community feedback<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Classify the type of business \u2014 for example, Delivery, Customer Support, or Insurance<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Alert about suspicious behavior, even before that number has been widely reported by the community<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Provide a single line AI summary of hundreds of user comments, while the phone is still ringing\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The group said the system is a response to the growing scale and sophistication of phone scams around the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It said that 56 billion spam and fraud calls were identified in 2024, with studies showing worldwide losses from scams topped an estimated $1.03 trillion that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;With phone calls and messaging among the most common fraud methods, this highlights the growing urgency of real-time caller intelligence and protection,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Trouble in South Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/spam-truecaller-scaled-e1733755384346.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/spam-truecaller-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-802091\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Even as Truecaller rolls out new AI-led services, the group faces privacy concerns in South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>AI is also a poorly regulated technology in the country, with the implications of these services still to be tested. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Truecaller is already\u00a0facing scrutiny from South Africa\u2019s Information Regulator, which is currently investigating the app following complaints from both companies and individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Z-n1jzyopnU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Norton Rose Fulbright director Rosalind Lake<\/a>, the regulator has confirmed that the investigation is underway but will not comment until it has concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Truecaller, which many users download to identify who is calling them, has been accused of violating the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is before even factoring in any AI integration, which could further complicate matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The system has proven wildly popular in South Africa because it warns users when they may be getting a call from a spammer or scammer who obtained their number unlawfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, it could also be infringing on the rights of legitimate businesses, which must be allowed to contact clients who have agreed to let them do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The source of the problem is Truecaller\u2019s crowdsourcing mechanism for flagging spam, which is open to abuse by malicious users or competing businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With AI potentially integrating this in real-time, the impact for businesses could be significant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Information Regulator will check Truecaller\u2019s practices against the eight conditions set out in the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This includes informing people how their data will be used, ensuring the data is used securely, and not using more personal information than is necessary for the stated purpose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Global caller ID service Truecaller is integrating AI deeper into its systems to collate billions of data points to give better indications of potential spam and fraud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":801396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[11927],"class_list":["post-836816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-it-services","tag-truecaller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=836816"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":836818,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836816\/revisions\/836818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}