Google has unveiled two new AI-powered tools aimed at detecting conversational scams on Android devices. These tools, Scam Detection for messages and calls, were introduced in a blog post by Google on March 4.
According to Google, these tools are an extension of the traditional spam protection already in place, which focuses on combating job and delivery scams. The new features, however, are designed to take things a step further by identifying suspicious patterns and issuing real-time warnings during conversations, all while ensuring user privacy.
The goal of these tools is to protect users from falling victim to conversational scams that often start innocuously but escalate to the point of users unknowingly sharing sensitive information, transferring funds, or even switching to alternative messaging platforms.
In their blog post, Google’s Product Manager Lyubov Farafonova and Senior Product Manager Alberto Pastor Nieto mentioned that they worked closely with financial institutions worldwide to gain a better understanding of the latest sophisticated and prevalent scams targeting customers.
The first of the two features, Scam Detection in Google Messages, monitors SMS, MMS, and RCS messages for potential scams in real time, offering users a warning when suspicious patterns are detected. Users can then choose to dismiss the warning, report the sender, or block them. Importantly, all message processing occurs on the device to protect user privacy, with the option for users to report conversations to reduce spam.
The tool is currently available in English in the US, UK, and Canada, with plans to roll out to more countries in the near future.
The second feature, Scam Detection for calls, processes call audio on-device to protect user privacy without recording, storing, or sharing any conversation audio or transcriptions. This feature is off by default and only notifies participants with a beep if a potential scam call from a non-contact is detected. Google’s survey has shown that the Scam Detection alerts have already proven beneficial in helping users avoid falling victim to conversational scams.
Scam Detection for calls was initially introduced to US-based English-speaking Phone by Google public beta users on Pixel phones toward the end of 2024.
Furthermore, on March 5, Google Cloud launched AI Protection, a new platform-agnostic solution designed to safeguard AI workloads and data across various clouds and models. This solution aims to assist security teams in identifying AI inventory, securing AI assets, and managing AI threats, including prompt injection, jailbreak, data loss, malicious URLs, and offensive content. AI Protection is integrated with Google Security Command Center (SCC), and additional services from Mandiant Consultants, part of Google Cloud, are available to help organizations assess and implement robust security measures for AI systems, as well as provide red teaming for AI.
In conclusion, Google’s new AI-powered tools for detecting conversational scams on Android devices, along with the launch of AI Protection from Google Cloud, demonstrate the company’s commitment to enhancing security measures for users and organizations in the digital age.