Google is bringing more AI power to India’s fight against online scams, introducing on-device call scam detection for Pixel 9 series phones and rolling out new screen-sharing alerts in popular financial apps.
As digital payments, shopping, and government services move to smartphones, fraudsters have followed. The Reserve Bank of India reported that digital transaction fraud made up more than half of all bank fraud in 2024, with 13,516 cases and losses of ₹5.2 billion (about $58.61 million). The Ministry of Home Affairs estimates online scams drained roughly ₹70 billion (around $789 million) in just the first five months of 2025. Many victims never report incidents, either due to uncertainty about the process or to avoid unwanted scrutiny.
The headline upgrade is real-time call scam detection on Pixel 9 and newer devices in India. Powered by Gemini Nano, the feature analyzes calls on-device to spot suspicious patterns without recording audio or sending data to external servers. It’s off by default, works only for calls from unknown numbers, and plays an audible beep so both parties know it’s active. The capability first appeared in the United States as a beta in March for English-speaking Pixel 9 users.
At launch in India, the feature is limited to English and to Pixel 9 and later models, narrowing its reach in a market where Android dominates but Pixel phones have a small footprint. Google says it’s working to bring this protection to non-Pixel Android phones as well, though there’s no timeline yet.
To tackle one of the fastest-growing vectors of financial fraud, Google is also piloting screen-sharing scam alerts with Navi, Paytm, and Google Pay. These alerts are designed to stop criminals who trick users into sharing screens to steal OTPs, PINs, and other credentials during a call. First announced at a developer conference in May and tested in the U.K., the alerts will be available on devices running Android 11 or later. They include a one-tap option to end the call and stop screen sharing. More app partners are planned, and alerts will appear in Indian languages too.
These new safeguards build on measures already in place. Through Play Protect, Google has been restricting predatory loan apps by blocking sideloaded installations of third-party apps that request sensitive permissions commonly abused for fraud. This year, the service has blocked more than 115 million such installation attempts. On the payments front, Google Pay surfaces over a million warnings each week for transactions flagged as potentially risky. The company’s DigiKavach awareness campaign has reached more than 250 million people, and in collaboration with the Reserve Bank of India, it has published a public list of authorized digital lending apps and their associated non-banking financial companies to help users avoid malicious operators. Earlier this year, Google also launched a Safety Charter in India to scale AI-driven fraud detection and broader security initiatives.
Even so, significant challenges remain. Despite app review processes, fake and misleading apps have slipped onto major app stores, including investment and loan apps used in scams that stayed live until law enforcement and researchers intervened. Policing such a vast ecosystem—especially in a country where smartphones are the primary gateway to the internet—remains a moving target.
For India’s rapidly digitizing economy, these updates signal a more proactive, privacy-first approach to security. On-device AI for scam detection, smarter safeguards against screen-sharing fraud, and stronger app screening all aim to reduce the window of opportunity for scammers. The big test will be how quickly these protections expand beyond Pixel devices and English, and how effectively they keep pace with an ever-evolving threat landscape.
