Scam calls are a real issue, particularly for those of us in the United States. There are over 120 million robocalls made per day in the US. Google, Apple, and the carriers are doing what they can to help mitigate them, but the scammers are getting smarter and finding ways to circumvent what these companies are doing.
Google is now developing a new “Verified Caller” system on Android that would make it a lot harder for scammers to trick you. Google had already built in a Verified Calls feature into the Google Phone app. The difference here is that the new system would work at the Android level through Google Play Services. Which means it would work no matter what Android phone you’re using, versus only working on the Google Pixel.
The biggest tool that these scammers use is caller ID spoofing. Making it look like it’s a legitimate number. Sometimes, even going with a number that is similar to yours, to make you think it’s someone nearby. Carriers have been blocking these calls through the STIR/SHAKEN system, but it doesn’t always work.
That’s when they turn to DNO, or do-not-originate numbers. These are numbers that you’d call for your bank, ISP, or other companies, but they would never use those numbers to call you. Scammers love using these numbers because they look legit. Google’s new system would check incoming calls against a list of known DNO numbers, and potentially flag them before you pick up.
This is going to be an app-based service, so if you have your bank app installed, say Chase, it could tell Android which DNO numbers to watch for. This isn’t a perfect solution, but it also can’t hurt.
This work was found in an APK Teardown, so Google is working on this, but it’s unlikely to launch imminently. Hopefully, it comes with Android 17 in a couple of months, but we have no clue when it could launch. It could be this year, next year, or even further down the road.
The post Android’s Next Big Feature Could Finally Put An End To Scam Calls appeared first on Android Headlines.
