WhatsApp inks deal with Tanla to detect and curb scams

Meta Platforms-owned WhatsApp has inked a collaborative pact with communications services company Tanla Platforms to identify fraudulent phone numbers in an attempt to boost efforts at controlling scams over its messaging platform, a top executive close to the companies said.

"Given that WhatsApp is an end-to-end encrypted channel, external signals are crucial for the platform to proactively identify a scam account and take down before any user falls in the trap of fraud messages or suspicious weblinks," the person cited said.

He added that banking and telecommunications channels handling text messages and voice calling customer services can offer these crucial insights to over-the-top platforms like WhatsApp, and accordingly, the collaboration will majorly weed-out malfactors.


As per the partnership, Tanla's AI-based anti-phishing solution Wisely ATP, which gathers intelligence on 10-digit numbers and malicious URLs, will share real-time signals to WhatsApp on the propensity of fraud. WhatsApp will act on the data shared anonymously after its own due-diligence. At press time, Tanla Platforms and Meta did not respond to ET's queries. As per the telecom regulator's June 13, 2023 directive, telecom companies are mandated to implement artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) solutions to detect senders of suspicious SMSes.