What is WhatsApp’s Scam Alert feature?
Scam Alert is a new safety feature designed to help users spot potentially fraudulent messages. When enabled, WhatsApp will analyse incoming messages from unknown contacts and display a warning if a message appears suspicious. The warning will be shown directly inside the chat, giving users an additional layer of information before they choose to interact with the sender.
The feature is designed to assist users rather than automatically block conversations. According to WABetaInfo, the key aspect of the feature is its focus on privacy. Scam Alert will process messages entirely on the user’s device, meaning message content will not be sent to WhatsApp’s servers for analysis.
As a result, chats will continue to be protected by end-to-end encryption, and WhatsApp will not be able to read users’ messages while checking for potential scams. The feature is also expected to work quietly in the background, and other users will not know whether Scam Alert is enabled on a device.
How will Scam Alert work
If WhatsApp detects a potentially suspicious message from an unknown contact, it will display a warning stating that the message may be a scam.
Users will then be presented with two options:
-
Block and report the contact -
Trust the chat and continue the conversation
Scam Alert activity
WhatsApp is also reportedly developing a transparency feature that will allow users to see when Scam Alert was triggered. The logs will be generated and stored locally on the device rather than being shared with WhatsApp. Users will be able to check whether suspicious messages were detected during a selected period and review Scam Alert activity from within the app settings.
If no suspicious activity is detected, the report will indicate that no scam alerts were triggered. WhatsApp reportedly does not plan to enable Scam Alert automatically.
Instead, users will need to manually turn on the feature through the app’s settings. Once enabled, WhatsApp will automatically display warnings when messages from unknown contacts appear suspicious. This approach gives users control over whether they want the additional layer of protection.
