WhatsApp Will Soon Warn Users Before They Get Scammed

Meta is set to launch an AI-powered Scam Alert feature on WhatsApp, designed to detect and warn users of potentially fraudulent messages before they engage in suspicious conversations. The feature, currently being tested as a beta release, utilizes on-device machine learning to assess chats for scam activity. If the system identifies a conversation as potentially fraudulent, it will display a warning directly in the chat, visible only to the user who receives it.

Users can then decide to block the sender, report the conversation, or continue chatting. In the event that the warning is incorrect, users have the option to mark the conversation as trusted. Meta emphasizes that the new system is privacy-focused, and users can always disable the Scam Alert feature if they wish. This feature builds on WhatsApp's other AI-based security measure introduced this year, which identifies suspicious device-linking requests that scammers may use to gain access to victims' accounts. The Scam Alert feature is in a testing phase and will eventually roll out globally.