Truecaller announces government directory support system to protect Indian users from scams

Truecaller is making it easier for Indian citizens to contact government officials through a digital government directory. This directory provides Truecaller users access to all government helplines, educational institutions, law enforcement agencies, hospitals and other key departments across 23 states and union territories.

The initiative is aimed at supporting seamless interaction between citizens of India and the Government by giving easy access to thousands of verified contacts of government officials. The information sourced for the digital government directory has been sourced directly from the Government and official government sources, according to Truecaller.

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The directory will help India’s over 240 million Truecaller users to connect with government services with no hassle. Truecaller says this is an important step to build trust in citizen services by protecting users from any scams, fraud and spam.

Pragya Misra, Director of Public Affairs, said, “Truecaller has evolved to become more than just a Caller Identification app and is today bridging the digital divide between the urban and growing semi-urban/rural markets in India by enabling trust in digital communication. Our attempt is to protect people from widespread impersonating of government officials leading to scams and frauds. We believe that with this feature, citizens can easily reach out to the right authorities when in need. This is a first its kind digital directory of government numbers and we will keep improving on it based on user feedback.”

Based on its interactions with netizens, Truecaller has learnt that scams on the phone that involve impersonating government officials are among the most widespread in the country. Building a digital government directory is a continuation of the platform’s efforts to build trust in communication and protect our users from frauds and scams, it added.

Going forward, Truecaller users will now see a green background and blue tick to indicate that the number in question is verified. The company is working with different government officials and departments to expand the directory. Truecaller also has plans to add contacts to the directory at the district and municipal level in the next phase of its plan. The company has also created a simple process for any government agency to share information and get verified on the directory.