Meta is trialling a new on-device AI-based Scam Alert feature in WhatsApp, aiming to detect and warn users of scam messages proactively while ensuring user privacy. The system, currently in limited testing, highlights Meta’s ongoing efforts to enhance messaging security amid rising fraud concerns.
Meta is testing a new WhatsApp warning system designed to spot scam messages before users are caught out, while keeping the checking process on the phone itself rather than sending message content to company servers. The feature, called Scam Alert, uses a small on-device artificial intelligence model that looks for patterns linked to previously reported fraud attempts, including common message phrasing and conversational tactics used by scammers.
When the system flags a suspicious message, it places a warning inside the chat and does not alert the sender. Users can then choose to block the account, report it, or carry on with the conversation. Meta says no report is sent automatically; it is only forwarded if the user taps the report option.
The tool has an important limitation. It only reviews incoming messages from people who are not already saved in the user’s contacts, leaving a gap if a friend or family member’s account has been hijacked. It also does not cover scams that happen outside WhatsApp, such as voice calls using AI-cloned voices. Even so, Meta is trying to make the system more transparent: it has said each model version is registered publicly, with verification signatures from Cloudflare, and users can review Scam Alert activity in WhatsApp’s account information section.
The move fits into a wider anti-fraud push by Meta, which said in August 2025 that it had introduced other WhatsApp tools aimed at unknown group invites and one-to-one messages from unfamiliar numbers. The company also said it removed more than 6.8 million accounts linked to scam operations in the first half of 2025. Scam Alert is now being tested in a limited pilot, alongside a bug bounty programme, but Meta has not said when it will be rolled out more widely or which countries will get it first.
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