Google Pay app on iPhone.
Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit
For the past two to three years, there has been a surge in cyber fraud cases in India. Threat actors disguising themselves as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and other police agencies make video calls to potential victims and make fake 'digital arrests' to steal money.
Most recently, a 57-year-old Bengaluru woman lost a whopping 31.8 crores in a digital arrest scam. To curb such online fraud, Google in collaboration with the government, has announced a new security feature in Google Pay.
It has started a new pilot feature in India to combat screen-sharing scams. Android phone Devices running Android 11 or newer versions will show a prominent alert if a user opens one of these apps while screen sharing on a call with an unknown contact.
This feature provides a one-tap option to end the call and stop screen sharing, protecting users from potential fraud.
Besides Google Pay, Google is collaborating with two other mobile wallet service providers, Paytm and Nav, to offer a similar scam warning feature on their respective mobile apps in India.
Google has rolled out a new Scam Detection feature to Pixel phones in India. It is powered by an advanced generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) model, specifically the Gemini Nano, which runs on-device.
It is capable of analysing calls in real-time and flagging potential scams entirely on-device, without recording audio, transcripts, or sending data to Google.
Scam detection features getting better on Android phones.
Credit: Google
This feature is off by default and applies only to calls from unknown numbers (not saved contacts). It plays a beep to notify participants, and can be turned off by the user at any time.
List of Pixel phones which support the Scam Detection feature:
--All users on Pixel 6 and later devices in the US.
--All users on Pixel 9 and later devices, excluding Pixel 9a, in Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, and the UK.
To enable Scam Detection:
Step 1: Open the Phone app.
Step 2: Tap More and then Settings, and then Scam Detection.
Step 3: Turn on Scam Detection.
Get the latest news on new launches, gadget reviews, apps, cybersecurity, and more on personal technology only on DH Tech