Truecaller Insights Women’s Day report reflects why women in India facing harassment must ‘Call It Out’

New Delhi, 7^th March 2018: Joining the worldwide celebrations of International Women’s Day, Truecaller today released its most comprehensive report yet, titled Understanding the Impact of Harassment & Spam Calls on Women. The report looks into the state of harassment calls made to women, what steps they can take to prevent them, and how big of problem they are, encouraging women facing harassment and spam to ‘Call It Out’.

Sexual Harassment: Where does it stop?  

It comes as an ugly truth that 1 out of 3 (36%) women in India is receiving sexual and inappropriate calls or SMS’. At least once a week, 78% of women received harassment calls with inappropriate and sexual content, and 82% received unsolicited videos and pictures with inappropriate and sexual content.

On average, 50% of these calls and texts were anonymous, 11% were made by stalkers, and 3% were from a person known to them.

In particular, 90% of respondents in Jaipur reported receiving calls and texts with offensive and sexual imagery or videos on a weekly basis, making it the highest in India.

The Fine Line between Nuisance and Harassment

While most women viewed cold calls from telemarketers, salespeople and fraudsters as a ‘nuisance’, 81% of women surveyed that blank calls were ‘harassment’. Blank calls in the survey were defined as an anonymous phone call made with the intention to threaten, harass or offend a caller, without a sales- or phishing-related objective. In fact, blank calls were the one type of spam call overwhelmingly felt to be harassment as opposed to nuisance.

Payments and Phishing: The double-edged sword

As per Truecaller’s Insights 2017 report, India is plagued by the highest number of spam calls in the world, with the average Truecaller user receiving 22.6 spam calls per month. With India’s ever-expanding payments landscape, phishing calls collecting payment information have become rampant. At least once a week, 72% of the women surveyed received calls from fraudsters seeking to collect payments or sensitive personal data, with 4% receiving counterfeit calls almost daily.

Calling It Out

Close to two-thirds (65%) of women reported feeling angry or irritated by harassment calls, while almost one-fourth (22%) felt troubled, worried or offended. The report also found that close to two-thirds (62%) of the women have taken measures against these calls, which is very encouraging.

The most common (65%) way to tackle this problem was to block the harasser’s number, install a call blocking app (48%) or search for the number online (41%). Only 10% of all women filed a complaint to the police (10%) or named and shamed the spammer on social media (7%).

Truecaller found that 90% of women in India use Truecaller to block harassers and spammers and 95% use Truecaller to identify, name and shame unknown callers. According to Truecaller’s internal data it was found that, overall, women in India report 18% more unwanted calls than men do, which is not surprising at all considering all the harassment calls they receive. This is an increase with 5% from last year, which was at 13%.

Research Methodology:

This research was conducted by Truecaller in collaboration with an independent market research, Ipsos Research in India. More details about them can be found here. Ipsos used the mobile based approach of data collection. The survey was conducted January 20th – February 22^nd 2018 among 2,004 women aged 15-35 across 15 cities in India (SEC A & B1.) This was done on a smartphone interface, using a self-complete methodology ensuring short length of interview in an engaging format.The internal data in this article was aggregated anonymously from spam reports in India during the period of December 1st, 2017 to December 31th, 2017 to understand the trends and usage.

About Truecaller:

People use Truecaller to stay ahead. It helps them know who’s getting in touch, filter out unwanted calls and SMS, and focus on what really matters. The company provides a suite of unique services such as a dialer that offers caller ID, spam detection, messaging and more. Truecaller’s mission is to build trust everywhere by making communication safe and efficient. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, the company was founded in 2009 by Alan Mamedi and Nami Zarringhalam. Investors include Sequoia Capital, Atomico and Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers.

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Mumbai, July 16, 2015: IndusInd Bank has launched yet another Customer Responsive service called QuickPay, wherein IndusInd Bank customers can send money instantly to their personal contacts and/or business parties through SMS, E-mail and social media platforms, without having the beneficiary Bank Account details. The sender can simply go to the bank website and transfer money to the recipient instantly, by just filling the E-mail Id or Mobile Number of the receiver. Moreover, customers can choose to send E-Gift Cards through the QuickPay platform to anyone, anywhere, anytime.

An IndusInd Bank customer can initiate a Quickpay transfer from the bank’s website or using the Net Banking instantly with a personalized message and with the choice of greeting. The sender gets a ‘Quick code’ that is shared with the recipient for completing the transfer. Quickpay happens via NPCI’s Immediate Payment Service (IMPS Person to Account) that is instant and 24X7.

While launching the service Mr. Ritesh Raj Saxena, Head – Savings, Digital & Payments Business, IndusInd Bank said “IndusInd Bank’s QuickPay service is aimed at delighting the customers in the digital age. Today’s young & digitally savvy customers expect payments to happen instantly & seamlessly. This service empowers IndusInd Bank consumers to send money to anybody, anywhere on a real time basis via social platforms. Bank will also soon launch its Wallet based payment App.”

See http://bitly.com/indusindquickpay  to experience QuickPay.

See http://bitly.com/quickpayfaqs for frequently asked questions.

About IndusInd Bank:

IndusInd Bank, which commenced operations in 1994, caters to the needs of both consumer and corporate customers. Its technology platform supports multi-channel distribution network. As on June 30, 2015, IndusInd Bank has 811 branches and 1,543 ATMs spread across the country. The Bank also has representative offices in London, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It enjoys clearing bank status for both major stock exchanges – BSE and NSE – and major commodity exchanges in the country, including MCX, NCDEX, and NMCE. IndusInd Bank is ranked 19th amongst the Top 50 Most Valuable Indian Brands 2014 as per the BrandZ Top 50 rankings a study published by the WPP and conducted by Millward Brown.

Ratings:

• ICRA AA+ for Lower Tier II subordinate debt program by ICRA
• ICRA  AA  for Upper Tier II subordinate debt program by ICRA
• CRISIL  A1+ for certificate of deposit program by CRISIL
• CARE AA+ for Lower Tier II subordinate debt program by CARE
• IND A1+ for Short Term Debt Instruments by India Ratings and Research
• IND AA+  for Lower Tier II subordinate debt program by India Ratings and Research
• IND AA  for Upper Tier II subordinate debt program by India Ratings and Research
• IND AA+  for Senior unsecured bonds program by India Ratings and Research

Twitter- @MyIndusIndBank

Facebook –https://www.facebook.com/OfficialIndusIndBankPage

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VivaConnect, an innovative mobile marketing company based in Mumbai held over 30 million interactions every single day in last 6 months, through services of Voice calls, Missed calls & SMS. These interactions originated over mobile phones and built a connect between brands and their customers through contests, games, surveys, feedback, polls, sampling, voting, notifications, coupons, registrations, authentications, referral programs, reward schemes, etc.

Being part of a service Industry the company stringently abides the guidelines prescribed by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). Moreover, they even enlighten each of their client about TRAI’s guidelines; before proceeding with any of their campaign. Making it their vital responsibility to ensure that their services promote convenience and are never a nuisance to mobile subscribers.

The figure made it clearly evident that mobile phones have surpassed other media of connect owing to the individual reach, real-time engagement, two-way communication and almost zero cost per interaction.

VivaConnect  not only safeguards their clients but also thinks for the customers (end user) of their clients. This can be witnessed from the previous incident where as the concern grew for confidentiality & security of subscribers data, VivaConnect went to acquire Payment card industry Data Security Standard Certification (PCI DSS), to assure privacy & confidentiality of Personal Identifiable Information (PII) and Specific Personal Identifiable Information (SPII) as per global information security policies for their clients. Its in process and they shall acquire it soon

‘Brands & Enterprises have increasingly taken up to Mobile marketing services for interacting with their customers. Now its the next phase where they seek for innovative concepts to enhance this engagement. So at VivaConnect, we work in close knit with our clients to reach their desired target audience, no matter how specific and vast their TG is. Together we focus over end-user experience & having simplest call to action.’, says Mr. Vikram Raichura (Managing Director, VivaConnect).

VivaConnect heads operations from Mumbai office & looks over northern India from their corporate office in Delhi. Their clientele includes prominent Consumer Brands, BFSI enterprises, Entertainment Industry, Media Houses, TV & Radio channels, etc. The company was recently bestowed with 2 Gold Awards at IDMA 2014 for Best Innovation in Mobile Marketing and Best Use of Technology. In a way their outstanding ensemble has paved the path for leveraging brands connect over mobile with their customers, in India.

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Should those who live in a Photoshopped World be prepared to die a digital death, or do they simply be prepared to troll away to social media oblivion? 

She was once unceremoniously thrown out of the Writer’s Building, literally by the mane of her hair, for having the temerity of sitting in a “dharna” outside the then CM’s room. CPI(M) goons had virtually polished her off in another now infamous incident. Yet, Mamata Banerjee was not seen to be wanting and had touched the feet of her political bête noir the Late Jyoti Basu, during the peak of an election campaign. Yes, the gesture of courtesy, some say,” an example of the finest Indian traditions” was used by her opponents who had pasted every wall with the picture, but was vindicated in the people’s court. The message was clear – “we the people” are all for the basic niceties, even in politics.

Alas, with stakes as high as they are in 2014, the first victim seems to be political niceties as candidates across the broad spectrum go vitriolic with a vengeance. It hurts, because what we are witnessing is the cow belt-isation of the political rhetoric, with the lowest common denominator plunging to depths that are unacceptably vulgar to put things mildly. It is natural that allegations will fly, that opponents will go for the jugular, but why cross all limits of decency? People are wondering, and rightly so. But the matter is not that simple and the roots of the cancer that is spreading, is much deeper than mere statements made in the heat of political rallies.

One of the reasons behind the unleashing of this “language terrorism” is off-course the rapid proliferation of the social media. Suddenly, everybody with a handheld device or an access to the net can and is, voicing their “opinion”. While it is a good thing in itself, the unregulated nature of the medium is giving rise to a new breed of “activists” who are hell bent on doing a “Full Monty” and are dancing in perverse pleasure at their new found importance as gutter bullies, trying to outdo each other with rabid bigotry . With no one to “Edit” or “filter” their inputs, the uncensored “creators” are turning politics into pornography with ceaseless abandon.

But that is only one dimension of the malice. The political party that was the first to seize the social media initiative had a sinister agenda – to further their own corrosive cause. Early on they had realised that they did not really have much to say and had therefore unleashed a concerted campaign of innuendo’s bordering on the insane (and insensitive to boot), to drive home the point that just wasn’t there. Naturally, there were many takers of their brand of communication – which catered to the basest of the instincts of their support base and did not require even a sprinkling of grey matter to get access to the coterie. A trend, that saw the SMS and the MMS emerge as the new opium of the “chosen” masses. This was just an extension of their age-old practice of singing religiously loaded anthems in the tunes of popular Hindi film songs for achieving narrow political ends and would have been largely ignored by the chattering classes as the shenanigans of the brain dead lunatic fringe, but for two reasons.

For one, the so-called lunatic fringe has been hugely successful in taking their propaganda mainline initially piggybacking on the apathy of mainstream politics and secondly because of their on-your-face success of setting the agenda and “forcing” the opposition to sink to their level to react to their mostly baseless and absurd accusations.

 The resources that have been thrown in to fuel this “brilliant” subterfuge is mindboggling and one must appreciate the way the true inheritors of Goebbelsian legacy have gone about with single minded devotion towards achieving their haloed objective. “The problem of arguing with an idiot” it is famously said “is that he will drag you down to his level and then beat you with experience”. Alas, today, as the mainline political forces comprehend the true purport of the adage, the lumpen and the lunatic and the thugs are wringing their hands in glee: having drawn first blood.

Social media, I thought was the most democratic of all them all, till I saw the demonic face it could flash, thanks to these self styled purveyors of the Indian identity. Any statement that is even remotely considered to be “against” their avowed cause is subject to a fullisade of comments that are not only bereft of logic, but are often offensive with a clear intent to bullying the opposition to submission. Try to put across a point, however valid and the wrath of the insensitive is unleashed, often with expletives that question the legitimacy of relatives, as in most cases, those taking part in the debate (?) have precious little to contribute intellectually, or ideologically or even intelligently. To defend what they call their “Bharat Mata”, they must therefore disrobe your Mother and throw in your sister for good measure, apart from making snide references to your caste, creed or ethnicity.

Initially, the perverse purveyors could be identified easily, as most originated, their different identities notwithstanding, from similar sources and the broad tonal qualities leaving crude signs that were tell tale. However, with time, the sources have become more and more sophisticated with layers and firewalls seeking to fudge their identities from becoming public and their posts have become more and more “trending” with the traditional support base of a typically divisive, chest thumping, intolerant ideology beginning to believe in the bluff they themselves have called. Trolls have indeed gone mainstream as more and more fence sitters throw in their all and Sunny Leone, if they have their way, will be soon be giving sermons on chastity.

But the seeds of destruction are inbuilt as was shown by the thunder unleashed by the AAP. Without going into the politics or even the merits of even its existence, one wonders at the way an “unorganized crowd” literally decimated the opposition without matching either the resources or the empty rhetoric. It was proved beyond doubt that “Crowd-sourcing” can indeed put to rest the best laid social media plans of men and their mice, or touch-screens, or whatever.

And this is what is making me worried. Even the most optimistic does not believe that their (W)Rath’s will see them coast across the “magic figure”. In all probability, the Indian electorate will give a fractured mandate which will no doubt mean thousands of crores down the drain. But a fractured mandate will also bring us back to where we begun – to Mamatadi. And Mayawatiji. And the Puratchi Thalaivi – the three ladies, who will in all likely hood, hold the key to the Parliament, either singly or jointly. And mind you, these ladies are much stronger than the “epitome of strength” as has been bloated, floated and is being “thrust upon” a hapless electorate. Lying prostrate before them will not be a very enjoyable proposition, especially in view of what is being said today by the same spin doctors who are going overboard thinking they have tasted blood and … victory. They did not learn their lessons the last time around when their creation a “man of steel” had to cringe before someone they had dubbed a “weakling” and a “videshi bahu” – and I shudder when I think how unkind history is to them who do not learn their lessons therefrom.

Backroom buddies, O sons of Bharata, you have majorly kicked butt. But remember the butts you kick today are linked to the feet your Lord and Master may have to lick tomorrow. Amen!

You can follow me in Twitter: https://twitter.com/CharmChawm

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