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WhatsApp is reportedly rolling out its upcoming Scam Alert feature to a limited number of Android beta testers with WhatsApp Beta for Android version 2.26.34.1. The feature is designed to help users identify potentially fraudulent messages from unknown contacts using an on-device machine learning model.
Scam Alert Reaches Android Beta Users
According to WABetaInfo, the Scam Alert feature is currently being tested with a limited group of Android beta users. When the on-device model detects patterns associated with a potential scam, WhatsApp displays a warning directly inside the chat.
Users can then choose to block the sender, report the conversation, or continue chatting. The warning is only visible to the user and is not shown to the other participant.
The feature can reportedly be enabled manually through Settings > Account. Meta has previously confirmed that Scam Alert is optional and works alongside WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption.
On-device AI keeps message content private
Scam Alert downloads a machine learning model directly to the device. The model then analyses incoming messages from people who are not saved as contacts and classifies them against patterns associated with known scam conversations.
Meta says the model is trained using patterns observed in scam conversations from reports submitted by users. Importantly, the message content is not automatically reported to WhatsApp, Meta, or any third party when Scam Alert analyses a conversation.
If the warning is incorrectly displayed, users can mark the conversation as trusted. WhatsApp will then remove the warning and will not flag that chat again.
Users can also choose to share their last five messages with WhatsApp to help improve the accuracy of the feature.
Availability
The Scam Alert feature is currently being tested with select Android beta users running WhatsApp beta version 2.26.34.1. Since the feature is still in testing, its wider availability and final release timeline have not been confirmed.
