Summary
- Google is intensifying its fight against online scams across its platforms, building on its “download apps, not traps” campaign by highlighting existing and new AI-powered defenses for Search, Chrome, and Android.
- AI advancements are significantly bolstering Google’s ability to detect and block scams in Search, including a major reduction in airline customer service impersonation scams, while Chrome’s Safe Browsing is being enhanced with the on-device Gemini Nano model for real-time protection against emerging threats.
- New AI-driven features are being introduced to combat notification spam in Chrome on Android and to provide real-time detection of call and message scams, reflecting Google’s commitment to staying ahead of evolving malicious tactics.
Soon after launching its new ‘download apps, not traps’ ad campaign in the US, which aims to raise awareness about safe app downloads on the Play Store, Google is now reiterating the existing steps it takes to ensure a safe and scam-free Search experience, all while highlighting new AI-driven measures it is taking to boost defenses across Search, Chrome, and Android in general.
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Tackling shopping scams
The tech giant alluded that Search is a breeding ground for those attempting to scam unsuspecting users, with Google blocking “hundreds of millions of scammy results every day.” The system to spot and block unsafe results uses AI in tandem with enhanced classifiers. “Advancements in AI have bolstered our scam-fighting technologies — enabling us to analyze vast quantities of text on the web, identify coordinated scam campaigns and detect emerging threats — staying one step ahead to keep you safe on Search,” wrote the tech giant.
The company shared that it has already reduced airline customer service impersonation scams by more than 80 percent on Search, among other areas, reducing the risk of unsuspecting users dialing a scammy phone number by mistake.
Enhancements to Chrome’s Safe Browsing with Gemini Nano
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Chrome’s Safe Browsing feature, which runs on both smartphones and desktop PCs, was first introduced way back in 2007. The tool helps protect users from dubious websites, unsafe downloads, phishing attempts, potentially harmful browser extensions, and more.
To enhance the feature’s safety mechanism, Google is supercharging it with Gemini Nano on desktop, which should reportedly allow the tool to provide near-instant insight on risky websites and protection against scams that haven’t been spotted in the wild before. “Gemini Nano’s LLM is perfect for this use because of its ability to distill the varied, complex nature of websites, helping us adapt to new scam tactics more quickly,” suggests Google.
The development adds an extra layer of security on the web, paired which Google’s existing real-time scam detection tech for calls and Google Messages.
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Combating notification scam and spam
If you’ve enabled notifications from a reliable website in the past, and it has changed hands, scammers can send a barrage of unwanted notifications in an attempt to scam you. The tech giant said that it is introducing a new AI-powered warning for Chrome on Android that would be able to flag said notifications and alert users about the potential threat.
The warning will be accompanied by an option to either unsubscribe or view the content that was blocked. “If you decide the warning was shown incorrectly, you can choose to allow future notifications from that website,” wrote Google.
These updates came soon after Google was spotted working on a shield against screen-sharing scams where threat actors pretend to be someone from your bank.
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