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Whoscall

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Whoscall
Developer(s)Gogolook Co., Ltd.
Initial releaseAugust, 2010
Operating systemAndroid, Windows Phone, iOS
Available inEnglish, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Malay, Thai, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Hindi
TypeCaller ID, Telephone Directory, Spam Filtering, Fraud Protection
LicenseProprietary
Websitewhoscall.com

Whoscall is a mobile application that offers caller identification services. It was developed by Gogolook Co., Ltd., a listed company in Taiwan. The function of Whoscall is to identify incoming calls, detect scam/harassment numbers, and filter spam text messages, blocking them accordingly. Its name is derived from a shorter version of the phrase “Who is calling?“.[citation needed] The app currently has over 100 million users, 2.6 billion phone number entries, 25 billion identified number & SMS, and is available in 31 countries/regions, including Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Brazil. The application owns the largest number database in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Whoscall is also the strategic partner of several governmental agencies in their anti-fraud efforts, including the National Police Agency (Taiwan), the Financial Supervisory Service (South Korea),  Fukuoka City Government., Police Cyber Taskforce (Thailand) the Malaysia police and state government.

History and development

[edit]
  • In 2010, the first version of Whoscall was created after one of its co-founders, Jeff Kuo, received a spam call. The app was developed together by Jeff Kuo, Jackie Chang, and Reiny Song as part-time work. Afterward, the three co-founded Gogolook, with the goal of enhancing fraud prevention efforts worldwide by providing a caller identification solution.[1]
  • In August 2010, the first version of Whoscall was released on Google Play in several countries and attracted voluntary downloads.[2]
  • In 2011, Whoscall gained traction and propelled itself into the limelight when Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt on a visit to Taiwan, rated the app: “An app called WhosCall tells you who a strange number is from. It's growing fast in the U.S., India, and China, and it's made in Taiwan.”[3]
  • In 2013, Gogolook received an investment of $11.7 million from Naver Corporation, LINE’s parent company.[4]
  • In 2013, Google Play Taiwan awarded Whoscall with its 2013 Innovation Awards.
  • In the same year, Whoscall was awarded Google Play’s Best Apps of the Year in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand.
  • In 2014, Whoscall iOS version was launched in the App Store.
  • In 2015, Whoscall was awarded as one of the App Store’s Best Apps of 2015.[citation needed]
  • In 2015 and 2016, Whoscall was awarded as Google Play’s Best Apps of the Year for two consecutive years.[citation needed]
  • In 2016, Whoscall signed an MOU with Taiwan’s National Police Agency to strengthen its anti-fraud efforts and help promote anti-fraud education. As of 2016, Whoscall had 60 million users worldwide.
  • In 2017, Whoscall signed an MOU with the Financial Supervisory Service (South Korea) and Korean National Police Agency on anti-fraud technical exchange.
  • In 2017, Whoscall was chosen by Google as a successful case study on the event Google I/O 2017.[5]
  • In 2019, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen visited Gogolook, the developer of Whoscall.[6]
  • In 2019, Whoscall had 60 million users worldwide.
  • In 2020, Gogolook, the developer of Whoscall, established its overseas office in Fukuoka, Japan and created partnerships with the Fukuoka City Government in joint anti-fraud efforts.[7]
  • In 2020, Whoscall released the world’s first COVID-19 Scam White Paper. The release was covered by several media outlets.[8]
  • In 2020, the application won Taiwan’s 4th Presidential Innovation Award, a recognition of its achievements.[9][10]
  • In 2020, Gogolook received investment from WIN Semiconductors Corp., the largest GaAs semiconductor foundry in the world.[11]
  • In 2021, Whoscall was listed as one of the anti-fraud apps recommended by the Royal Thai Police.[12]
  • In 2021, Whoscall released the 2020 Annual Report focusing on latest fraud trends and industry insights.[13] [14]
  • In 2021, Whoscall launched "Smart SMS Assistant" feature.[15]
  • In 2021, Whoscall reached more than 100 million downloads worldwide.
  • In 2022, Whoscall released the 2021 Annual Report.[16]
  • In 2022, Whoscall cooperated with True Corp, the largest telecom company in Thailand, to expand anti-fraud business [17]
  • In 2022, Cross-border cooperation with Malaysia Selangor to expand the Southeast Asian market.[18]
  • In 2022, Join hands with the Web3 community "Global Citizen Club" to create customized NFT [19]
  • In 2022, Jointly released the “Business Impersonation Report” with CIB.[20]
  • In 2022, Whoscall launched the "Whoscall Premium Group Sell" on momo shopping online.[21]
  • In 2022, Whoscall's parent company, Gogolook, applies for IPO listing on the Innovation Board.[22]
  • In 2022, Whoscall partners with Thailand Post to prevent fraud [23]
  • In 2023, Signed an MOU with the Royal Malaysian Police to start fraud prevention cooperation [24]
  • In 2023, Whoscall released the “2022 Global Fraud Report” covering six major fraud scenarios.
  • In 2023, Whoscall added a new free feature “URL scanner” to enhance personal data security protection.
  • In 2023, Parent company - Gogolook went public on the Taiwan Innovation Board (TIB) of the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE).

Features

[edit]

Instant Caller Identification, which identifies unknown callers in real time through the largest number database (with 2.6 billion entries) and an AI-powered identification engine.

Caller ID Blocking, which reduces the risks of receiving malicious/harassment phone calls by blocking nuisance calls or text messages automatically.

SMS Message Filtering, which filters dangerous phishing text messages by detecting suspicious URLs and keywords.

Unknown Caller Query, which allows users to key in unknown phone numbers manually and identify such callers in the database.

Number Reporting, which maximizes the power of social network by allowing users to report dangerous/scam phone numbers.

Whoscall Number, which increases phone answer rates, resolves the problem of counterfeit corporate identities, and protects consumers from fraudulent threats, through the implementation of a number verification mechanism.

URL scanner, which allows users to view the risk level of unknown links by simply entering them within the app, thereby filtering out fraudulent links

Accolades and reception

[edit]

Whoscall has been covered in prominent international media including BBC, TechCrunch, TechinAsia, and e27. It has many positive reviews and holds an average of 4.2 star ratings on Google Play Store.

Anecdote

[edit]

On May 20, 2014, Gogolook was mentioned by name during the President of Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou's national address marking his 6th year in office. Gogolook was referred to as an example of the creativity and potential of the youth of Taiwan.[25]

In April 2014, concerns regarding Whoscall's privacy issues rose to the forefront of national attention as public figures took to the press and expressed their concerns with public records including home telephone numbers and addresses showing up on incoming calling screens. Gogolook swiftly came out with a statement declaring that they had never collected nor stored any personal information on their servers, let alone made them publicly available.[26] It was soon discovered that the personal information of the aforementioned public figures was leaked from government servers with poor security protocols that made the information available on search engines, from where Gogolook sources some of their information. Whoscall was promptly lauded as not only a call screen for telemarketers, but also a reliable reminder for the possible dissemination of personal information.[27]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Chen, Liz. "不明來電走著瞧——WhosCall 幕後團隊專訪". www.inside.com.tw/. Inside. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
  2. ^ "The Best Apps of 2013". Retrieved 15 October 2014.
  3. ^ Startup World Staff. "Taiwanese Startup Brings Whoscall Mobile App to the Middle East Market". www.mystartupworld.com/. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
  4. ^ "Korean web giant Naver acquires makers of Whoscall".
  5. ^ "Google Analytics for Firebase: Overview and Updates (Google I/O '17)". YouTube. 17 May 2017.
  6. ^ "【 小英去哪裡 EP8 】安裝防詐騙神器whoscall好安心，小英參訪台灣新創公司Gogolook". YouTube. 2 July 2019.
  7. ^ "福岡市実証実験フルサポート事業「Beyond Coronavirus」に海外番号の識別もできる迷惑電話対策アプリ「Whoscall」が採択".
  8. ^ "Whoscall 發表全球第一份「疫情防詐白皮書」，揭手機「簡訊」成疫情詐騙破口".
  9. ^ "Whoscall creator wins Taiwan Presidential Innovation Award". September 2020.
  10. ^ "Reverse Phone Search". Retrieved 21 May 2023.
  11. ^ "Gogolook gets funding for further expansion in Japan".
  12. ^ "วิธีเช็คเบื้องต้นว่า เบอร์ใครโทรมาหาเรา". Facebook.
  13. ^ "Scam calls, messages in Taiwan up 488% in 2020". 2 February 2021.
  14. ^ "Whoscall《2020 年度報告》：詐騙數量創新高，成長 190%！". 19 May 2021.
  15. ^ "詐騙簡訊滿天飛 Whoscall推「智慧簡訊管家」辨識垃圾訊息". chinatimes. Retrieved 2021-11-09.
  16. ^ "《Whoscall 2021年度報告》解析詐騙動態". 經濟日報. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  17. ^ "Gogolook攜泰國最大電信集團True Corp 拓展防詐業務". Udn. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  18. ^ "加速拓展東南亞新商機！馬來西亞最大州政府找Gogolook助陣防詐". ctee. Retrieved 2022-09-19.
  19. ^ "Whoscall攜手Web3社群防詐 推333款限量「防詐NFT」". nextapple. 23 September 2022. Retrieved 2022-09-23.
  20. ^ "Whoscall 母公司公布企業偽冒事件報告書，揭露詐騙風險、趨勢". TechNews. Retrieved 2022-08-28.
  21. ^ "Whoscall進階版團購組合上momo銷售 拓展防詐商機". udn. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  22. ^ "Whoscall公司Gogolook 申請創新板上市". Udn. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  23. ^ "Whoscall ร่วมมือไปรษณีย์ไทย ส่งท้ายปี ส่งต่อความห่วงใยป้องกันภัยมิจฉาชีพ". ztobiz. 29 December 2022. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  24. ^ "Jumlah kes jenayah komersial catat penurunan pada tahun 2022 berbanding 2021". Berita RTM. Retrieved January 4, 2023.
  25. ^ Office of the President. "總統主持520 就職六週年記者會". president.gov.tw. Office of the President. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
  26. ^ 蔡智銘; 葉濬明. "LINE whoscall | 很會找 名人個資全洩". AppleDailydate=18 February 2014. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
  27. ^ 生活中心 (19 February 2014). "輸入電話=肉搜？LINE whoscall | 太強大 個資全曝光". ETToday. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
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