WhatsApp to deploy AI tools to reduce international scam calls

Reacting to a growing number of pesky calls from international numbers in India, WhatsApp, the world’s most popular messaging platform on Thursday announced it has implemented new artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) systems that will reduce such calls by at least 50 per cent.

This development comes after Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that the ministry will send a notice to the Meta-owned company on the issue of spam calls from unknown international numbers.

“We continue to provide several safety tools within WhatsApp like Block & Report, consistently build user safety education and awareness, as well as, proactively weed out bad actors from our platform. However, bad actors find different ways to scam users. International scam calls are a new way that bad actors have recently adopted. By giving a missed call, they lead curious users to call or message back only to get scammed,” a WhatsApp spokesperson told ABP Live in a statement.

“Therefore, we have ramped up our AI & ML systems to bring down such incidents significantly. Our new enforcement will reduce the current calling rate by at least 50 per cent and we expect to be able to control the current incidence effectively. We will continue to work relentlessly towards ensuring a safe experience for our users,” the WhatsApp spokesperson added.

WhatsApp users in India have recently reported a massive surge in incoming international spam calls and most of the pesky calls are reported to be from international phone numbers that start with Indonesia (+62), Kenya (+254), Ethiopia (+251), Malaysia (+60), Vietnam (+84). Most of these numbers try to lure users with job offers via international numbers.

It is being said that scammers are tapping end-to-end encrypted messaging platforms, including Telegram and the world’s most popular messaging platform WhatsApp to carry out these scams. It is highly advisable not to respond to such unwanted calls because this is part of a major scam where fraudsters would lure in unsuspecting users with promises of quick money and then swindle them out of lakhs. ABP Live