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Google has begun rolling out a fake call detection feature on Android to tackle rising AI voice-cloning scams. Built into Phone by Google, it verifies caller identity using encrypted signals and alerts users if a contact’s number is spoofed. The feature will expand globally to Android 12+ devices through June, starting with Pixel phones.

Your phone rings. The screen says "Mom." The voice on the other end sounds like her, the same warmth. But it isn't her. It's a scammer with an AI voice-cloning tool, a spoofed number, and a fabricated emergency designed to get you to send money. It's a scenario that security experts say is becoming more common, and harder to catch.

Google is now taking direct aim at this threat. The company began rolling out fake call detection on Android this week, a new feature built into Phone by Google that can identify when someone is pretending to be one of your contacts, and alert you in real time, before the conversation has a chance to go wrong.

Why is Google rolling it out now?

Caller ID has long been the first line of defence against unknown callers. But scammers have learned to neutralise it by routing calls through internet-based software to make them appear to originate from a number already in your contacts. Layered on top of that is AI voice cloning, technology that, experts say, has become realistic enough that most people can no longer reliably tell the difference between a genuine voice and a synthesised one.