Kaspersky has announced an enhancement to its Kaspersky Who Calls app, introducing a new feature aimed at combating mobile spam, scams, and fraud. This update allows users to block incoming calls from any number not saved in their contact lists, providing an extra layer of protection against unsolicited and potentially harmful communications.
The Kaspersky Who Calls app already alerts users to the origins of unknown calls, a feature particularly beneficial for seniors and young children who are often targeted by scammers. The addition of the call-blocking functionality further strengthens the app’s capabilities, making it an essential tool for maintaining privacy and security on mobile devices.
Phone scams remain a prevalent issue worldwide, with multiple reports from countries such as Malaysia, the UK, Singapore, and Australia highlighting phone calls as one of the top three methods used by scammers globally. This alarming trend underscores the need for proactive measures to protect personal information and ensure the safety of mobile communications.
The new feature in Kaspersky Who Calls automatically blocks calls from numbers not stored in the user’s contact list, as well as from hidden numbers. Upon enabling this feature, the app immediately notifies the user of the blocked call. Users have the flexibility to customize their notification settings, deciding whether to receive alerts for blocked calls. Additionally, if the blocked number is associated with known entities like banks, medical centers, or consumer service companies, this information will be displayed in the pop-up notification, ensuring users are informed about who attempted to contact them.
This feature is available exclusively in the paid version of Kaspersky Who Calls and can be enabled by navigating to the app’s settings. Users need to go to ‘Settings’, choose ‘Incoming calls’, and scroll to ‘Spam categories’ to find the option to block calls from unknown numbers. Currently, this functionality is available only for Android platforms.
By enriching the Kaspersky Who Calls app with this new feature, Kaspersky continues to lead the charge in mobile security, providing users with the tools they need to protect themselves from unwanted and potentially dangerous calls.