WhatsApp has started rolling out a new optional Scam Alert feature designed to warn users when scammers may be targeting them.
The feature is currently available in a limited beta rollout as WhatsApp tests the warning system with researchers from its Bug Bounty community.
The new feature uses an on-device machine learning model to identify potential scam messages. WhatsApp says message content does not leave the device for classification and is not automatically reported to WhatsApp, Meta or anyone else.
The company says Scam Alert is designed to work alongside end-to-end encryption while giving users an optional warning when the model detects signs of a likely scam.
When the system detects a potential scam, WhatsApp will display a warning in the chat. Users can then choose to block the sender, report the conversation or continue chatting.
WhatsApp also says users can mark a conversation as trusted if they believe a warning was triggered incorrectly. Once a chat is marked as trusted, the warning is removed and Scam Alert will no longer flag that conversation. Users can also optionally share the last five messages they received with WhatsApp after marking a chat as trusted, helping the company improve the feature’s accuracy.
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According to WhatsApp, neither the messages processed by the local machine learning model nor the model itself leave the user’s device. The Scam Alert feature is optional and can be disabled at any time.
WhatsApp Begins Testing On-Device Scam Alert Feature
