Taiwanese technology company Gogolook has launched “Whoscall,” a call identification and spam-blocking app to address increasing mobile scam incidents in the Philippines.
Scam calls and messages are becoming alarming issues in the Philippines, causing financial losses and distress for many, said Manwoo Joo, chief operating officer of Gogolook, which developed the Whoscall app.
He said the app’s primary objective is to provide an effective solution to the prevalent scams that have been affecting Filipinos’ lives.
The Philippine government also recognizes the rising cases of spam and scams.
Cybercrime Investigation and Coordination Center (CICC) undersecretary Alexander Ramos said “scamming methods are becoming increasingly sophisticated.” The CICC is a sub-agency under the Department of Information and Communications Technology.
According to Gogolook, the app is powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven technology, using Whoscall’s massive database in East Asia and Southeast Asia.
Whoscall currently has more than 2.6 billion entries to detect unknown callers, spam and scam calls and texts, and potentially harmful URLs, the company said. The app identifies unknown numbers, blocks spam calls, and scans suspicious URLs from messages to provide protection for mobile users.
Gabriel Barrios, Gogolook country marketing head for the Philippines, said Whoscall has been available as the leading caller ID and scam detection app in Thailand and Taiwan, accumulating 100 million downloads worldwide.
The company further said the app’s anti-fraud features allow users to answer or ignore calls and messages, and users can also report suspicious numbers. It is available on both Google Play and the Apple app store.
