Google is strengthening AI fraud protection in India, but gaps remain

Google is bringing more AI power to India’s fight against digital fraud, as it rolls out on-device fraud detection for Pixel 9 devices and new screen sharing alerts for financial apps.

Digital fraud continues to rise in India as more people go online for the first time and increasingly rely on smartphones for payments, shopping and accessing government services. Frauds involving digital transactions were counted More than half of all reported bank fraud cases In 2024 – 13,516 cases resulting in losses worth INR 5.2 billion (about $58.61 million), according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Online scams It caused an estimated Rs 70 billion Losses (about $789 million) in the first five months of 2025, the Home Office said. Many incidents likely go unreported, either because victims are unsure how to file a complaint or want to avoid further scrutiny.

Thursday Google Announce Expanded real-time fraud detection, which uses Gemini Nano to analyze calls on the device and flag potential fraud without recording audio or sending data to Google servers. The feature is turned off by default and only applies to calls from unknown numbers, and it beeps during the conversation to notify participants. He – she It debuted in the United States in March As a beta for English-speaking Pixel 9 users.

Google has confirmed to TechCrunch that its on-device fraud detection will initially only work on the Pixel 9 and later models in India and will be limited to English-speaking users, with its warning also being in English only. This limits its reach in the market where Android accounts Nearly 96% of smartphonesper StatCounter, but for Pixel devices Owns less than 1% of the shares in 2024. Linguistic limitations are also noticeable in a country where most users rely primarily on languages ​​other than English – an audience Google And others like Amazon It has admitted to adding support for Indian languages ​​across its services in recent years.

The tech giant said it is working to detect scams for non-Pixel Android phones as well, without offering a timeline.

Google also announced a pilot program in India with financial apps Navi, Paytm and Google Pay aimed at curbing screen sharing scams, where scammers convince victims to share their screens to obtain one-time passwords, PINs and other credentials during a call. It was the advantage It was first announced at Google I/O in May and was initially tested in the UK

Users with devices running Android 11 or later will have access to alerts, which include a one-tap option to end the call and stop screen sharing. Google confirmed to TechCrunch that it plans to add more app partners and the feature will display alerts in Indian languages ​​as well, but did not provide details.

For several months, Google was too Using its Play Protect service To restrict predatory loan apps in India by blocking side-loading of third-party apps that ask for sensitive permissions that are often exploited for fraud. The company said the service blocked more than 115 million installation attempts this year. Meanwhile, Google Pay displays more than a million warnings each week for transactions flagged as potentially fraudulent, according to the company.

Google also runs the DigiKavach digital fraud awareness campaign, which it said has reached more than 250 million people. The company worked with the Reserve Bank of India to publish a public list of approved digital lending apps and associated non-banking financial companies to help curb malicious actors.

Earlier this year, Google Launched a safety charter in India to expand its efforts in fraud detection and AI-based security, part of a broader plan to deploy more AI tools in the country to tackle rising fraud.

However, Google still faces major gaps in reducing digital fraud in India. The company – like Apple – has been questioned Allow fake and misleading apps To appear in its app store despite audits aimed at preventing fraudulent submissions.

In recent years, police and Security researchers Investment and loan apps used in the scams that remained available on the Play Store until the intervention have been flagged. These cases highlight the challenges Google faces in monitoring the ecosystem that dominates the country’s smartphone market.