WhatsApp Said to Be Developing On-Device Scam Detection Feature for Android

WhatsApp is said to be developing a new privacy-focused feature for Android aimed at helping users identify potential scams prior to engaging with them. According to a feature tracker, it will analyse incoming messages from unknown senders and flag suspicious conversations to protect users against fraudulent activity. The in-development feature, dubbed Scam Alert, reportedly works entirely on-device and is said to maintain the same end-to-end encryption as traditional WhatsApp conversations.

Scam Alert Feature on WhatsApp Might Scan Messages on a User's Device

According to feature tracker WABetaInfo, the Scam Alert feature was discovered in the WhatsApp beta for Android app version 2.26.22.2 on the Google Play Store. It is currently under development and is expected to be rolled out with a future version of the WhatsApp for Android app.

The feature will reportedly warn users when a message from an unknown sender appears suspicious. Instead of automatically blocking the conversation, the feature will provide contextual information to help them decide whether the sender is trustworthy. The feature tracker claims WhatsApp will display a warning banner inside the chat stating, "This may be a scam."

Users will reportedly have two options: block and report the sender, or continue the conversation, if they believe the message is legitimate.

As per the feature tracker, a notable aspect of Scam Alert is its privacy-focused implementation. Scam Alert is said to process messages entirely on the user's device, similar to WhatsApp's voice transcript functionality. This means conversations are never analysed and stored in external servers.

The company will reportedly not have access to users' conversations during the scam detection process either. The report also claims that Scam Alert will operate silently in the background. This suggests that other users will not know whether the feature is enabled on a recipient's device.

WhatsApp is also said to be working on a transparency component to complement the Scam Alert feature. This will reportedly allow users to review local logs showing when the feature was triggered. These records are also claimed to be stored on-device and not shared with WhatsApp. If no suspicious activity is detected during a selected period, the report may indicate that no scam-related alerts were generated.

The feature tracker also says that the Scam Alert feature is optional and will be disabled by default. Users who wish to use it may be able to enable it manually from the app's settings menu. As the feature is still in development, there is no official timeline for its rollout.