Google introduces spoofed call impersonation detection

Google has introduced a new security feature to identify spoofed calls and prevent impersonation fraud. They built this feature on an open standard to make it possible for other apps and device manufacturers to adopt this technology. Let’s have a look.

Impersonation fraud

Fraudsters use spoofed calls to pretend to be someone they’re not and steal something of value from victims. Impersonation scams are the top fraud reported to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

There is a growing trend among scammers to use AI-generated voice cloning to trick their victims. For example, they might take audio from a social media video post and use an AI tool to generate a convincing audio recording to mimic that person. Then they call a relative and play the fake audio to create a convincing, high-pressure plea for help to persuade the victim to send money.

Security experts advise consumers to protect themselves from this attack by agreeing on a code word among family members. If a family member gets a high-pressure call with an urgent plea for help, then he or she should ask for the code word, which a fraudster would not know.

How many people have done this? How many would remember the code word discussed a long time ago when confronted with a stressful call?

Google fake call detection

Google recently announced fake call detection in its Android Phone by Google app. When a person calls someone else, the called person’s phone sends a silent message to the calling number using Rich Communications Services (RCS) technology, which is an open standard. The calling phone receives the RCS message and replies with an RCS message that either does or does not confirm that it is placing this call.

If the calling phone indicates that it is not placing the call, then the called party’s phone will display a message telling the called party that this call might be fake.

Of course, both the calling and called phones must have this feature for this to work.

Google says they built this feature on top of RCS to enable other apps and device manufacturers to adopt this technology.

More information

• Google blog post on its new fake call detection feature
• FTC consumer alert on impersonation scams
• Consumer Affairs article on voice cloning scams
• CNN article, AI voice cloning scams are on the rise

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