Truecaller expands scam detection beyond caller ID with new no-login tool
Swedish company Truecaller has launched a free tool called Scam Checker that lets people verify suspicious phone numbers, links, and messages without an app or sign-in. The service is launching first in India, with plans to expand to Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia.
Truecaller, which has spent over a decade building a caller ID service used by more than 500 million people, is now extending its scam-detection expertise to the open web. On Sunday, the company introduced Scam Checker, a new web and Android tool that allows users to paste in a suspicious phone number, link, or message to check whether it's fraudulent.
The tool draws on reports from Truecaller's community platform, ScamFeed. More detailed information about a phone number, such as an associated name, remains locked behind Truecaller's existing sign-in-required service. The free tool is launching first in India, with plans to expand to Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia.
How it works
Scam Checker examines submitted links by expanding shortened URLs and following redirects to their final destination, then checks them against Truecaller's risk database and other fraud signals. Users can also paste an entire suspicious message, and the service will extract any phone number or link within it to surface related community reports.
Scams have moved beyond phone calls
According to a 2025 GSMA survey in India, 46% of people who reported being scammed said they were contacted through messaging apps, 37% via SMS, and 32% through voice calls. Truecaller estimates people conduct about 14 million web searches monthly to verify suspicious links and numbers.
In India, roughly 20,000 scam reports are currently active on ScamFeed, with about 1,300 new ones added weekly. Between September 14 and 20, the company evaluated 12.9 billion messages globally and flagged 20.3 million as fraudulent.
Truecaller plans to broaden the range of scam types Scam Checker can identify and add screenshot upload capability. The expansion comes as competition intensifies in Truecaller's largest market, India, where telecom operators are rolling out a government-backed caller-ID service and Apple and Google have added their own spam-protection features.
