Android expands pilot for in-call scam protection for financial apps

Posted by Aden Haussmann, Associate Product Manager and Sumeet Sharma, Play Partnerships Trust & Safety Lead Android uses the best of Google AI and our advanced security expertise to tackle mobile scams from every angle. Over the last few years, we’ve launched industry-leading features to detect scams and protect users across phone calls, text messages and messaging app chat notifications . These efforts are making a real difference in the lives of Android users. According to a recent YouGov survey 1 commissioned by Google, Android users were 58% more likely than iOS users to report they had not received any scam texts in the prior week 2 .

How the in-call scam protection works on Android When you launch a participating financial app while screen sharing and on a phone call with a number that is not saved in your contacts, your Android device 3 will automatically warn you about the potential dangers and give you the option to end the call and to stop screen sharing with just one tap.

To help combat these types of financial scams, we launched a pilot earlier this year in the UK focused on in-call protections for financial apps. The warning includes a 30-second pause period before you’re able to continue, which helps break the ‘spell’ of the scammer's social engineering, disr