Google just rolled out a feature in its Phone app that flags AI impersonation scams, and it’s aimed squarely at one of the fastest-growing fraud tactics around. According to The Verge AI, when a call comes in that appears to share a number with one of your saved contacts but can’t be verified, Phone by Google will mark it as suspicious so you can hang up before a fake voice talks you into anything.
This ships as part of Google’s June Android drop, the same update bundle adding Apple AirDrop support to more devices, including the Samsung Galaxy S25 lineup. But the scam-detection piece is the one worth your attention.
Why this matters
The threat is real and expensive. Google points to FBI figures showing Americans lost over $893 million to AI-powered scams in 2025. The playbook is nasty: a scammer spoofs your contact’s number, then uses AI voice tech to sound like a friend, a family member, or some authority figure pressuring you to act fast. The familiar number on your screen is exactly what makes you trust the call. Google’s fix attacks that trust gap directly.
How it works
The Verge AI lays out the mechanics, and the key detail is verification through a second signal:
- Silent confirmation handshake. When a real contact calls, their device sends a quiet confirmation signal that verifies the call is genuinely theirs.
- Missing signal flags the fake. If a scammer spoofs your contact’s number, that confirmation signal won’t be there. The app then shows a notification reading “Someone may be pretending to call from your contact’s number,” with a button to end the call.
- Both sides need the app. This only works if you and your trusted contact both use Phone by Google. No shared app, no signal to check.
- Built on encrypted RCS. Google layered the feature on top of end-to-end encrypted rich communication services, which means other apps can adopt the same approach down the road.
Who gets it and when
The feature is on by default for users running Android 12 and later, starting with Pixel phones. No setup, no toggle hunting. If you’re on a Pixel with a recent Android build, it’s already working in the background.
The catch worth repeating: protection depends on both people using Phone by Google. If your mom calls from a different dialer app, the verification signal never gets sent, so the system can’t confirm or deny the call. That’s a meaningful limit on day-one coverage, since plenty of Android users run the dialer that shipped with their phone instead of Google’s.
The bigger picture
What stands out here is that Google built this on an open standard rather than locking it inside its own app. By putting verification on encrypted RCS, the company left the door open for other dialers and carriers to plug in. That’s the difference between a Pixel perk and an industry-wide defense, and it hints at where caller verification is heading.
The rest of the June drop fills out the release: Google’s Personal Safety app is opening up to kids under 13, the AI-powered clothing try-on tool in Photos is getting a wide rollout, and Circle to Search is gaining the ability to find individual items in an outfit. Useful additions, but the anti-spoofing tool is the one that addresses an actual financial threat.
Voice-cloning scams aren’t slowing down, and a number you recognize is no longer proof of who’s really calling. Expect verification signals like this to become table stakes across phones, not a single-vendor feature. Full details are available at the original report from The Verge AI.