According to a report by WABetaInfo, the feature will provide users with an additional warning when they receive a message from an unknown contact that may be linked to a scam.
The warning will appear directly inside the chat, allowing users to decide how they want to respond to the message.
The feature will not automatically intervene or block a suspected scam attempt. Instead, it will provide users with information to help them assess potential risks. Users will then be able to choose whether to block and report the sender or continue with the conversation.
The main purpose of the feature is to warn users at an early stage when a message appears potentially fraudulent.
The Scam Alert feature will reportedly be optional and will not be enabled by default. Android users will be able to enable it through WhatsApp Settings by going to the Accounts section.
Meta previously explained in a blog post that the optional feature uses an on-device machine learning model to identify and warn users about potentially fraudulent messages.
This means the analysis of a suspected scam message will take place directly on the smartphone rather than being sent to the company’s servers.
According to Meta, this approach helps ensure that messages continue to benefit from end-to-end encryption. WhatsApp already uses similar on-device technology for features such as voice message transcription.
As the Scam Alert feature is currently available in beta testing, it is not yet clear when it will be rolled out to all WhatsApp users.
