GOOGLE has introduced a brand new alert on Android phones that every user must look out for.
Scammers steal an estimated £787billion from people across the globe a year and they are constantly evolving their tactics.
But tech giant Google has come up with a clever way to protect people from sneaky attacks.
Sophisticated AI built into your phone can detect key signs of an on-going scam in real-time.
It will pop-up as an alert on your handset urging you to end the call.
Your phone will also vibrate.
“Likely scam – suspicious activity detected for this call,” it reads.
The tech looks for conversation patterns commonly linked to fraud.
“For example, if a caller claims to be from your bank and asks you to urgently transfer funds due to an alleged account breach, Scam Detection will process the call to determine whether the call is likely spam and, if so, can provide an audio and haptic alert and visual warning that the call may be a scam,” Google says.
Scam Detection is switched off by default so you will need to switch it on to benefit from the added layer of protection.
The feature is processed on-device, so no chat audio or transcription is stored on your phone, nor is it sent to Google servers or anywhere else.
It is available on the latest Pixel 9 smartphones first, before rolling out to older Pixels.
Other Android brands will also get access to it soon.
Of course, the alert can only do so much and you should still be vigilant when taking calls.
The call alert system isn’t the only new tool Google has released.
A live threat detection will now be on hand to deliver real-time alerts of harmful apps identified by Google Play Protect.
“At launch, live threat detection will focus on stalkerware, code that may collect personal or sensitive data for monitoring purposes without user consent, and we will explore expanding its detection to other types of harmful apps in the future,” the firm says.
IF you’ve lost money in a scam, contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or by visiting Actionfraud.police.uk.
You should also contact your bank or credit card provider immediatley to see if they can stop or trace the cash.
If you don’t think your bank has managed your complaint correctly, or if you’re unhappy with the verdict it gives on your case you can complain to the free Financial Ombudsman Service.
Also monitor your credit report in the months following the fraud to ensure crooks don’t make further attempts to steal your cash.
