Swedish Spam Blocker Truecaller Takes on AI Voice Clones

(Bloomberg) — Sweden’s Truecaller AB, the developer of a caller ID and spam-blocking app, is deploying technology to counter the growing number of criminals using artificial intelligence-generated voice cloning to defraud phone users.

Scammers are cloning voices to increasingly target companies, Chief Executive Officer Rishit Jhunjhunwala told Bloomberg News. For example, he’s seen a fake version of a CEO’s voice being used to call up the firm’s finance chief to request a large transfer. Fraudsters are also posing as fake customers to get inside companies’ systems.

Readily accessible generative AI tools have made it easy for criminals to convincingly imitate voices, putting more people at risk of falling for fraud. Truecaller scans callers’ voices to detect when they’re computer generated.

“Criminals are always one step ahead of us,” Jhunjhunwala said in his first major interview since becoming chief executive earlier this month. “In emerging markets everything revolves around phones these days, and that’s where bad actors are moving their attention.”

Rising digital crime has coincided with a period of rapid growth in app users especially in India, which is Truecaller’s biggest market accounting for about 70% of revenues. Monthly active users worldwide surpassed 433 million last year and analysts expect full year revenue of about 1.85 billion Swedish kronor ($167 million) for 2024, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Key to the fight against voice cloning is CallHero Ltd., an Israeli company it bought in 2022 that specializes in cloud telephony. Jhunjhunwala said the firm will continue to explore more AI acquisitions. 

“2025 will be a pivotal point for AI adoption across the board in the company,” the CEO said, citing the use of large language models to detect call patterns in the company’s trove of data as a key use of the technology.

Truecaller’s shares are up 21% so far this year as analysts tracking the stock warm to the company’s prospects. On Tuesday, Carnegie Investment Bank reiterated its buy recommendation saying that new growth initiatives have “mostly gone unnoticed given sluggish end markets.” Shares closed up 13.1% in Stockholm.

Alongside AI, a big part of the strategy for the coming year will be monetizing this week’s roll out of an enhanced app on iOS 18, Apple Inc.’s mobile phone operating system. 

While only 7% of the company’s active users currently use iOS, Jhunjhunwala said he’s confident that will change now the company has opened up its ecosystem for developers like Truecaller. It means the iOS app will detect every phone number, removing a significant disadvantage compared to Android users, a feature Jhunjhunwala said the company influenced.

“I think we were the single biggest driver of Apple making this change,” he said.

The app upgrade is particularly relevant for India, where Jhunjhunwala points to Apple’s growth ambitions, which he said is “a great sign.”

The company is grappling with evolving data protection laws, including the Data Protection Act in India, which could represent a risk headache to the business. Truecaller voluntarily implemented data protection practices worldwide that align with strict European Union rules because, Jhunjhunwala said, it was the “right thing to do.”

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