It was learned that WhatsApp is working on an innovative feature that will enable users to detect any kind of scam attempt before interacting with any suspicious sender.
According to the report published by the WABetaInfo website that tracks all WhatsApp features, the company is trying out a “Scam Alert” feature on its Android application. These types of fraud, phishing, or impersonation scams have become prevalent on messaging applications.
Privacy remains at the centre
One of the most notable aspects of the proposed feature is its privacy-focused design. According to WABetaInfo, Scam Alert will process message analysis entirely on the user’s device rather than sending conversation data to external servers. The approach is similar to WhatsApp’s existing voice transcription feature, which also performs processing locally.
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If implemented as reported, WhatsApp and its parent company Meta would not have access to users’ messages during the scam-detection process. The feature is expected to work alongside the platform’s existing end-to-end encryption framework, ensuring that conversations remain private.
How the feature could work
The report suggests that WhatsApp will display a warning inside chats when a message from an unknown sender appears potentially fraudulent.
Users may see a notification stating that the conversation could be a scam, allowing them to make an informed decision before responding.
Rather than automatically blocking contacts, WhatsApp is expected to provide users with options to either continue the conversation or immediately block and report the sender. The warning system is intended to offer guidance without interfering with legitimate conversations.
Optional feature with local transparency logs
Another important aspect of Scam Alert is transparency. As per the report, users might get access to log files, stored locally, that show what happened when the feature flagged any fraudulent activities. Log files will stay with the user and won’t be sent anywhere, even not to WhatsApp.
In case there are no scams detected within the specified period, then the user will find the record about it. The feature should work in stealth mode, and other users will not know if Scam Alert is activated.
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Stil a work in progress
This new feature was noticed by WABetaInfo on WhatsApp beta for Android v. 2.26.22.2.
The website noted that Scam Alert will probably be an optional feature that will be turned off by default. If a user wants to activate Scam Alert, then he/she might be able to do that in the settings menu of the application. So far, no official information about the future release of this new feature was available from the company.
If released, Scam Alert could become one of the most effective solutions against fraud on WhatsApp.
