Mamedi is of Kurdish descent and was born in a refugee camp in northern Sweden, while Zarringhalam moved to Sweden from Tehran at the age of three both are Swedish citizens now. Truecaller was developed by True Software Scandinavia, a Swedish company founded in 2009 by Nami Zarringhalam and Alan Mamedi. Neither Truecaller nor Google had ever sought my consent to use or display my private number. I was stunned, as I had never used Truecaller on this number or downloaded the app on the device I was using. They sent me another screenshot of a notification sent by Truecaller, which stated that my number was registered on WhatsApp. I even know that this number is registered on WhatsApp, the journalist from Lahore giggled. Humein toh yeh bhi pata hai ki aapka yeh number WhatsApp par registered hai” - I recognized you. The journalist told me that they had recently installed the Truecaller app from the Google Play Store on an Android phone. The notification had my name, my former employer’s name, my designation at my former company, the state I was based in, and the name of my mobile operator. When asked how they identified me, they sent a screenshot of a notification received from the Truecaller app on their phone. Surprisingly, they greeted me by my name when they received the call.

In October 2021, I called a journalist based in Pakistan, who did not know me.

Truecaller id only works with wifi