Caller identification platform Truecaller recently released a new feature that allows one person to become a family group admin, receive alerts about fraudulent calls received by other members, and end calls on behalf of a family member if they suspect they are being scammed.
The company, which has more than 450 million users, first launched the feature in a handful of countries including Sweden, Chile, Malaysia and Kenya in December. Truecaller said that after seeing promising results, it decided to expand around the world, including India, its largest market. This feature is free and allows users to create groups even if they are not on a paid Truecaller plan.
This feature allows a tech-savvy member of your family or friend group to become an admin for a group of up to five members. When other members join the group, admins can receive alerts about potentially fraudulent calls they receive. If an admin determines that a call could cause harm to a member, they can also end the call remotely. Admins can receive scam call alerts when members are using iOS or Android, but they can only end calls to members on Android.
On Android, members can also give admins permission to detect real-time activities such as walking and driving, battery level, and phone sound settings (to see if the phone is on silent). Truecaller says this will help administrators keep an eye on senior members and only call them when they’re not walking or driving.
Admins can also block specific numbers and international calling codes, and share block lists with group members.
Truecaller noted that admins cannot see group members’ non-spam call history or SMS history.
“Unfortunately, I think we all know someone in our family or friends who has fallen victim to a scam,” Kunal Dua, Truecaller’s chief product officer, told TechCrunch by phone. “In that sense, this is a fundamental change for Truecaller in terms of what we’ve been focusing on as a problem,” he added.
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Last year, Truecaller introduced voicemail functionality for its users in India. The feature is powered by an AI assistant that listens to calls and provides a transcript summary when the user is unavailable. The company is considering a similar AI approach for family protection that could alert administrators about what types of scam calls group members are receiving.
The company is also considering using AI to screen calls and automatically disconnect calls if certain words associated with scams are detected, such as “digital arrest” (a tactic in which perpetrators impersonate law enforcement officers to extract information or money from call recipients).
In India, scam calls are increasing over time, causing economic losses across the country. Truecaller said it identified more than 7.7 billion fraudulent calls last year. Indian authorities have launched multiple initiatives, including a controversial policy called SIM binding that could prevent apps like WhatsApp and Telegram from working.
Truecaller faces headwinds. The company’s stock price has fallen more than 80% in the past 12 months. The company said in its fourth quarter 2025 report that EBDITA, a measure of operating profitability, fell 49% year over year, and advertising revenue fell 31%. The company is also facing challenges from India’s Caller Name Presentation (CNAP) system, which displays the name of the caller as registered with the telco. Truecaller argued that simply displaying caller names does not reduce spam calls, and that its platform goes further by providing community-based reporting.
“There is a lot of buzz in India about the impending rollout of CNAP,” Truecaller CEO Rishit Jhunjhunwala said during the Q4 2025 earnings call. “CNAP has been partially deployed and has thus far had limited impact on our user growth. As we have previously stated, we expect CNAP to potentially have some impact on user growth, but that remains to be seen until CNAP reaches full deployment.”
Jhunjhunwala continues. “We remain focused on delivering great products, and as you know, consumers can choose to use CNAP and Truecaller in parallel, where they are provided with more information, more context, and a variety of other solutions.”
