Google has announced fake call detection for the Phone by Google app, adding a new protection against impersonation scams that use spoofed phone numbers and AI-generated voice deepfakes.
The feature is designed to warn users when a call appears to come from a known contact but does not include the required verification signal from that contact’s actual phone.
In these scams, attackers can spoof the phone number of a family member, employer, or other trusted contact. The call may appear to come from someone the user knows, even though it is being routed through internet-based software.
Scammers can also use AI deepfake tools to imitate the voice of a trusted person, making the call sound more believable. Deepfake voices have become realistic enough that many people may struggle to tell them apart from real human voices.
Fake call detection works when both people are using the Phone by Google app. During the call, the two phones silently confirm that the call is actually happening between the real devices.
The confirmation uses end-to-end encrypted RCS, keeping the process private. If a scammer spoofs a contact’s number, the confirmation signal will be missing, and the Phone by Google app will show a warning.
The feature is built to help users respond in real time when a call may be fake. It can warn users before they act on requests from someone pretending to be a family member, authority figure, or employer.
Google is positioning the tool as protection against both number spoofing and AI voice impersonation, two tactics that are increasingly being used together in scam calls.
Fake call detection is rolling out globally this month in the Phone by Google app on devices running Android 12 and newer. Pixel phones will receive the feature first.
The feature will be turned on by default, but users can disable it through the Phone by Google app settings. Android users with a different default dialer can install Phone by Google from the Play Store and set it as their default phone app to use the protection.
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