WhatsApp launched a brand new automated call-silencing characteristic intent on focusing on potential spam calls this week. The characteristic, plainly dubbed “silence unknown callers” within the WhatsApp settings menu, is bringing one other layer of safety to calls and messages from unknown numbers to fight a rise in undesirable calls.

The new addition, which rolled out worldwide on Tuesday, will “automatically screen out spam, scams, and calls from unknown people,” WhatsApp mentioned in a news release. WhatsApp customers in India have been reported to be amongst these most affected, receiving a median of about 17 spam calls per thirty days, a 2021 Truecaller report discovered, in line with Reuters.

In response to rising spam complaints, Meta’s new characteristic is designed to extend safety to supply extra management over customers’ incoming calls. The unknown calls won’t ring on WhatsApp, however will as an alternative be redirected to the person’s name checklist, the place the person can nonetheless see the missed name, in case it was misidentified as spam.

The firm is pairing its Silence Unknown Callers characteristic with Privacy Checkup, additionally launched at present, which can navigate the person by steps to safe their messages, calls, and private info.

The change comes after experiences that greater than 500 million customers had complained of an inflow of spam calls from worldwide numbers, especiall from international locations with space codes +251 (Ethiopia), +60 (Malaysia), +62 (Indonesia), +254 (Kenya), and +84 (Vietnam) in latest months.

Meta didn’t instantly reply to Gizmodo’s request for remark, however a WhatsApp spokesperson instructed TechCrunch, “Bad actors find different ways to scam users. International scam calls is a new way that bad actors have recently adopted.”

The Federal Trade Commission reported in 2022 that the top five scams are from those that pose as on-line buying scams, suggest seemingly actual enterprise and job alternatives, report on funding alternatives, and choices of prizes, sweepstakes, and lotteries. The FTC reported it obtained 2.4 million fraud experiences final yr, citing that Americans misplaced roughly $8.8 billion final yr, anincreasing by 30% over 2021.

In response to the inflow of spam calls, India’s Minister of State for IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, mentioned on the Public Affairs Forum of India final month that he was sending a discover to Meta concerning the huge surge in incoming spam calls, native media outlet Mint reported. “I have said repeatedly that openness trust, safety, and accountability are the responsibility of platforms who deliver to digital nagriks [digital citizens],” he mentioned.

Meta believes its new safety additions will scale back the present quantity of spam calls by a minimum of 50%, telling TechCrunch, “We expect to be able to control the current incident effectively. We will continue to work relentlessly toward ensuring a safe experience for our users.”