Android Adds AI-Powered Scam Protection to Google Messages

Enhanced Protection Comes to Google Messages

Google is rolling out a new "enhanced protection" mode for Android that aims to make it harder for scammers to operate on mobile. The setting, which will begin arriving in the coming weeks, expands on the existing Scam Detection feature in Google Messages by bringing cloud-based Gemini AI models into the conversation.

When enabled, the mode uses cloud-based Gemini to assess the intentions of unrecognized senders. Google says scammers often disguise their true motives behind slow-burn conversations, and the secure cloud analysis augments existing on-device detection to identify novel and sophisticated attacks.

On-Device AI Scans Unfamiliar Links

The enhanced protection mode is opt-in and also relies on the on-device Gemini Nano model to inspect real-time web signals in unfamiliar URLs before they are opened, determining whether the links are malicious.

Google says user data is encrypted during AI analysis and processed in a secure dedicated space that only the user can access.

Additional Security Tools Announced

Alongside the Messages update, Android is gaining safeguards against apps enabling call forwarding, including notifications when someone attempts to do so. Chrome and Android WebView will also automatically conceal sensitive information while screen-sharing.

Meanwhile, the scam detection feature for chat notifications that Google introduced on Pixel phones last year is expanding to devices from Honor, Motorola, Oppo, OnePlus, Realme, Tecno, Vivo, Xiaomi and more, with the company saying it plans to reach hundreds of millions of additional users later this year.

Sources: The Verge · Engadget