To combat growing incidents of cybercrime, impersonation, and fraud, and promote user safety in digital communication, the State Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeIT) has entered into a collaboration with Truecaller, the caller ID platform.
Under this engagement, Truecaller will carry out a series of initiatives to create awareness and build the capacity of citizens across the State to navigate Internet safety and protect themselves from online harm, especially phone-based frauds and scams.
Priyank Kharge, Minister for Information Technology and Biotechnology and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, said: “This partnership underscores the State’s commitment to prioritising the safety of our citizens in the digital ecosystem. Cybercrimes and fraud in digital communication are growing at a rapid pace with advancing technology thus exposing vulnerable citizens to high risk.’‘
The government was taking proactive steps to increase awareness and promote safety in digital communications, said the Minister, adding that Bengaluru was synonymous with innovation and was recognised as a thriving tech hub. “We take pride in adopting a collaborative approach to enhancing citizens’ online safety here,” he added.
Rishit Jhunjhunwala, Chief Product Officer and Managing Director, India at Truecaller, claimed, “Over the past year, our government directory services feature has assisted over 31.2 million users in identifying verified calls from spam and fraud, while also helping them easily access helplines and key government numbers on the platform.’‘
Truecaller is consistently working towards improving fraud prevention and is confident that this collaboration would assist netizens in Karnataka to stay away from fraudsters, the company said.
To date, Truecaller conducted cyber safety training for over 1.6 million citizens in collaboration with the Delhi and the Assam police, and the governments of Delhi, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, and Rajasthan, according to the company.
