Google is expanding the call fraud protection feature of the Android system through the Google Play Service to help users protect themselves from fraudsters during sensitive calls involving financial or payment applications.The function works like this:
First, it detects whether the caller number belongs to a known contact in the address book. If it is not a known contact, it goes to the next step. Then it starts to detect whether the user has opened a supported financial application. If it is detected that the supported financial application is opened, a protection alert will be triggered.
After the alarm is triggered, an anti-fraud prompt will pop up on the screen. At this time, the user can tap the prompt to end the call directly or stop screen sharing. This can be used to prevent fraudsters from pretending to be a bank and asking to open financial applications according to instructions to transfer money, etc.
Add a 30-second pause to give the user time to think:
In addition, considering that some fraudsters will use various tricks to pressure users so that users have no time to think and can only follow the scammers’ words, Google has added a mandatory 30-second delay to this function.
That is, after detecting an abnormality, the system will forcefully pause the call or screen sharing for 30 seconds, allowing the user to have some time to think, and the operation can be resumed after 30 seconds.
In reality, it often happens that fraudsters pretend to be law enforcement agencies or bank staff and ask users to turn on screen sharing and open banking applications to operate. This new feature of Android can add additional reminders to users to reduce the probability of being deceived.
This feature is currently only being gradually rolled out in the US market, requiring Android 11 and later versions. The first supported financial applications include Cash App and JPMorgan Chase Bank, and other financial applications will also provide support in the future.
The call fraud protection feature was piloted in the UK market earlier this year. Google said the system has helped thousands of users successfully block scams and avoid major financial losses caused by scam calls.