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Whoscall

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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
Gogolook Co., Ltd.
HeadquartersTaipei,
Taiwan
Country of originTaiwan
Founder(s)Jeff Kuo, Jackie Chang, Reiny Song
URLhttps://gogolook.com/en
Launched24 July 2010; 14 years ago (24 July 2010)

Whoscall is a mobile application that offers caller identification services developed by Gogolook Co., Ltd., a listed company in Taiwan.

History

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In 2010, the first version of Whoscall was created after one of its co-founders, Jeff Kuo, received a spam call.

Originally a part-time project by Jeff Kuo, Jackie Chang, and Reiny Song as part-time work, the trio 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 2020, Gogolook, the developer of Whoscall, established its overseas office in Fukuoka, Japan.

In 2021, Whoscall launched "Smart SMS Assistant" feature.[3] In 2022, Whoscall launched the "Whoscall Premium Group Sell" on momo shopping online.[4]

Business model

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Investors

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In 2013, Gogolook received an investment of $11.7 million from Naver Corporation, LINE’s parent company.[5]

In 2020, Gogolook received investment from WIN Semiconductors Corp., the largest GaAs semiconductor foundry in the world.[6]

In 2022, Whoscall's parent company, Gogolook, applies for IPO listing on the Innovation Board.[7]

In 2023, Gogolook went public on the Taiwan Innovation Board (TIB) of the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE).

Strategic partners

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Whoscall is also the strategic partner of several governmental agencies in their anti-fraud efforts.

Year Type Country Name Goal
2016 Memorandum of understanding  Taiwan National Police Agency Strengthen its anti-fraud efforts
2017  South Korea Financial Supervisory Service Anti-fraud technical exchange
Korean National Police Agency
2020 Partnership  Japan  Fukuoka City Government Joint anti-fraud efforts[8]
2021  Thailand Royal Thai Police [9]
2022 True Corp Expand anti-fraud business[10]
Thailand Post Prevent fraud[11]
Cross-border cooperation  Malaysia Selangor Government of Selangor Expand the Southeast Asian market[12][13]
2023 Memorandum of understanding Royal Malaysian Police Fraud prevention cooperation[14][15]

Other ventures

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In 2022, Whoscall joined hands with the Web3 community "Global Citizen Club" to create customized NFT[16]

Other anti-fraud efforts

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In 2020, Whoscall released the world’s first COVID-19 Scam White Paper. The release was covered by several media outlets.[17]

Since 2020, Whoscall have been releasing Annual Reports focusing on latest fraud trends, scenarios and industry insights.[18][19][20][21]

In 2022, Gogolook released the “Business Impersonation Report” with the Criminal Investigation Bureau.[22]

Awards and recognition

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Whoscall has been covered in international media outlets including the BBC,[23] TechCrunch, TechinAsia, and e27.

In 2017, Whoscall was chosen by Google as a successful case study on the event Google I/O 2017.[24]

In 2021, Whoscall was listed as one of the anti-fraud apps recommended by the Royal Thai Police.[25]

Year Organisation Award name Reference
2013 Google Play Taiwan 2013 Innovation Awards [26]
Google Play Best Apps of the Year [27]
2015 App Store Best Apps of 2015 [26]
2016 Google Play Most Popular App
2020 Ministry of Economic Affairs 4th Presidential Innovation Award [28][29]

Anecdote

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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 released a statement declaring that they had never collected nor stored any personal information on their servers, let alone made them publicly available.[30]

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 which Gogolook sources some of their information.[31]

References

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  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. ^ "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.
  4. ^ "Whoscall進階版團購組合上momo銷售 拓展防詐商機". udn. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  5. ^ "Korean web giant Naver acquires makers of Whoscall".
  6. ^ "Gogolook gets funding for further expansion in Japan".
  7. ^ "Whoscall公司Gogolook 申請創新板上市". Udn. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  8. ^ "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".
  9. ^ "Gogolook นำโดยแอป Whoscall ผนึกศูนย์ปราบปรามอาชญากรรมทางเทคโนโลยีสารสนเทศ สำนักงานงานตำรวจแห่งชาติ". ryt9.com (in Thai). Retrieved 2025-01-21.
  10. ^ "Gogolook攜泰國最大電信集團True Corp 拓展防詐業務". Udn. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  11. ^ "Whoscall ร่วมมือไปรษณีย์ไทย ส่งท้ายปี ส่งต่อความห่วงใยป้องกันภัยมิจฉาชีพ". ztobiz. 29 December 2022. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  12. ^ MOHAMED, ISKANDAR SHAH (2022-08-25). "4,608 kes 'scammer' di Selangor". Kosmo Digital (in Malay). Retrieved 2025-01-21.
  13. ^ "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.
  14. ^ "Jumlah kes jenayah komersial catat penurunan pada tahun 2022 berbanding 2021". Berita RTM. Retrieved January 4, 2023.
  15. ^ Wong, Abel (2023-01-06). "Royal Police Malaysia appointed Whoscall to combat fraud and scam phone calls". TechNave. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
  16. ^ "Whoscall攜手Web3社群防詐 推333款限量「防詐NFT」". nextapple. 23 September 2022. Retrieved 2022-09-23.
  17. ^ "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".
  18. ^ "Scam calls, messages in Taiwan up 488% in 2020". 2 February 2021.
  19. ^ "Whoscall《2020 年度報告》：詐騙數量創新高，成長 190%！". 19 May 2021.
  20. ^ "《Whoscall 2021年度報告》解析詐騙動態". 經濟日報. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  21. ^ "Gogolook 2022 Annual Fraud Report : Calls and Messages". Whoscall Column. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
  22. ^ "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.
  23. ^ "Taiwan's front-line battle against mobile phone fraud". BBC News. 2022-12-05. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
  24. ^ "Google Analytics for Firebase: Overview and Updates (Google I/O '17)". YouTube. 17 May 2017.
  25. ^ "วิธีเช็คเบื้องต้นว่า เบอร์ใครโทรมาหาเรา". Facebook.
  26. ^ a b "About Whoscall: Leading Caller ID & Scam Prevention App". whoscall.com. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
  27. ^ "Google年度最佳APP 台防詐軟體上榜 | 即時新聞 | 20131205 | 蘋果日報". 2016-03-04. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
  28. ^ "Whoscall creator wins Taiwan Presidential Innovation Award". September 2020.
  29. ^ "Reverse Phone Search". Retrieved 21 May 2023.
  30. ^ 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.
  31. ^ 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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