Truecaller has launched household-level fraud prevention capabilities as the Swedish company expands its role beyond caller ID in response to an increase in scams targeting multiple members of a household.
The new feature, called Family Protection, allows up to five people to join a family group, with one member acting as an admin and managing other members’ fraud blocking settings. Family Protection will initially be rolled out in a pilot to Android and iOS users in Sweden, Chile, Malaysia, and Kenya.
Truecaller says the feature is designed to help the digitally confident person in the household handle fraud protection on behalf of less tech-savvy family members.
On Android, family managers can receive alerts for suspected fraudulent calls. View basic device status including battery level. Calls flagged as fraudulent can be ended remotely, the company said.
As more people access the internet, fraud is on the rise around the world. This activity is exploding in markets where first-time smartphone users and older adults are more susceptible to fraud. Countries including India are reporting a surge in identity theft attempts and multi-step schemes that exploit digital proficiency gaps. Truecaller plans to address this issue with new features and plans to expand to additional key regions, including India, in the first quarter of 2026.
Rishit Jhunjhunwala, CEO of Truecaller, told TechCrunch that the company has seen fraudsters move from targeting individuals to entire households, deploying techniques to find vulnerable points of entry through a series of calls, messages, missed call triggers, and impersonation attempts targeting multiple family members. He said this trend prompted the launch of multi-user protection systems.
Family Protection is available to users as a free feature. However, if a family manager upgrades to a premium family plan, all members will get an ad-free experience, along with stronger spam protection and automatic rejection of high-risk calls, the company said.
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With a user base of over 450 million people worldwide, Truecaller detects approximately 63 million fraudulent attempts per day and can track changes in fraud schemes in real time. The company says its community also reports approximately 166 million spam calls each day, creating one of the largest datasets on phone-based fraud worldwide.
But Truecaller faces new competition in India, its biggest market. This is because the Indian government has begun testing a caller name display system that displays the name registered with the telecommunications provider when a call is received. Truecaller has been adding features beyond caller ID, such as Family Protection, to adapt to regulatory and market changes in India and other key markets.
“Family Protection enhances the safety of up to five family members with the vigilance of one person,” Jhunjhunwala said, adding that the company aims to extend protection without requiring any additional effort from users.
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