National
ETV Bharat / technology
By ETV Bharat Tech Team
Published : June 3, 2026 at 12:28 PM IST
Hyderabad: Google has introduced a new security feature for Android smartphones, aimed at protecting users from scammers impersonating friends and family using AI-powered voice cloning tools.
In the recent past, such deepfake scams have emerged as one of the leading contributors to fraud globally, where bad actors impersonate contacts to demand money for a fake emergency. According to Interpol’s March 2026 Global Financial Fraud Threat Assessment, impersonation fraud resulted in a loss of over $400 billion worldwide.
Since the AI tool allows scammers to clone not only the voice but also the tone, such fake calls are hard to detect. The only clue to fraud was that the call used to come from an unknown number, and users could call the original contact to confirm the authenticity.
However, scammers have developed new tactics to bypass caller ID verifications as they impersonate the phone numbers of contacts as well. They spoof the phone number, routing calls through internet-based software to make it appear as though the call was originating from a familiar contact. Then they utilise AI deepfake technology to sound exactly like someone you know, which sounds so realistic that most people cannot reliably distinguish them from real human voices.
How the Fake Call Detection Feature Works
To combat this menace, Android is now getting a fake call detection system that is supposed to detect and flag suspected spoofed calls when you and your contact are both using Google’s official Phone app. This feature works in the background and is akin to a digital handshake between devices, Google says.
“When a contact calls you, and you’re both using Phone by Google, their device sends a silent confirmation signal in real time to your device to verify the call is legitimate and truly coming from the contact’s device,” Google explains.
If a scammer attempts to impersonate the contact, this initial confirmation signal would be missing. In such cases, the recipient’s device would immediately detect the absence of the signal and ping the actual device of the contact to double-check. If the real device responds that it is not making a call at that moment, the recipient would see a warning on their screen advising them to hang up right away.
Google believes that the system can help users avoid falling victim to deepfake impersonation and call spoofing in real time. It says that since the digital handshake between devices is done via end-to-end encrypted Rich Communication Services (RCS) technology, it is completely private. Still, users have the option to disable this feature at any time in the Phone by Google app settings.
Availability of the Feature
The new Fake Call Detection feature is rolling out globally in the Phone by Google application to Android 12+ devices this month. The feature will first arrive on Pixel devices, followed by smartphones from other brands.
Notably, Phone by Google is already the default phone app for the majority of Android devices. In case your device uses a different phone app, you can install Google’s phone application from the Play Store and set it as your default app to use this feature.
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