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Built-in security keeps you safer from scams and fraud

According to the Global Anti-Scams Alliance, nearly one in four people worldwide have been affected by online scams and fraud. Bad actors are misusing technology to build scams around jobs, investments, travel and more, relying on misleading content and malware to make their crimes more effective. Google is committed to helping you stay safer every day, with AI-powered security features built in at the product level.
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AI-powered scam detection

Google uses AI to identify fraudulent content at scale. Machine learning uncovers patterns that indicate potential scams, and LLMs can quickly recognize new trends that allow us to distinguish what is legitimate from what is harmful. These innovations make it possible to filter out threats and help keep you safer as you go about your life online, from opening emails and making purchases to browsing the web and storing photos.

Your daily defence against dangerous schemes

Discover the product features engineered to keep you and your personal information safer from scams, spam, malware, fraud, theft and more.

  • Google Search

    In Search, AI helps us detect and block hundreds of millions of scammy results every day. Our Fighting scams on Search report showcases how the investments we've made in our AI-powered scam-detection systems—along with improvements to our classifiers—have enabled us to catch 20 times the number of scammy pages. These improvements help ensure the results you get are legitimate and protect you from harmful sites trying to steal your sensitive data. We also provide tools like About this result , which lets you learn more about online sources before clicking on them.

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    Chrome

    Chrome's Enhanced Protection mode of Safe Browsing is our highest level of protection from phishing, malware and other scams you may encounter while browsing the web. It keeps consumers twice as safe compared with Standard Protection mode.

    With its expanded use of AI, Enhanced Protection now deploys the Gemini Nano model to predict scamming sites at a scale not possible before and can even identify previously unseen scams. We've started using this new, AI-powered approach to protect people from remote tech-support scams and will be expanding it to protect against additional types of scams.

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  • Google Maps

    We're constantly getting better at preventing and taking down deceptive content from bad actors. Last year, our AI-powered detection systems blocked or removed more than 12 million fake business profiles and over 240 million reviews that violated our policies. The vast majority of misleading reviews were removed from Google Maps before they were ever seen by our users.

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    Android

    Android automatically filters out spam and phishing messages and screens scam calls. Proactive protections warn you before you visit an identified dangerous site. All apps on your device are scanned daily for continued security. And theft protection keeps your data safe before, during and after theft attempts.

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  • Pixel

    Scams are commonly initiated through phone calls and text messages. These often appear harmless at first but can evolve into dangerous situations. Scam Detection uses powerful on-device AI to help detect conversational patterns commonly used by scammers, in real time. Get notified during calls and when text messaging if the person on the other end is a potential scammer.

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Check out our tips and tools for avoiding scams

Get up to speed with the information you need to protect yourself from all kinds of shady and scammy activities online. Knowing what to look for is one of the best lines of defence.
Go to Security tips

Check out our tips and tools for avoiding scams

Get up to speed with the information you need to protect yourself from all kinds of shady and scammy activities online. Knowing what to look for is one of the best lines of defence.
Go to Security tips

Our approach to
battling scams and fraud

To provide access to trustworthy information and content, we develop policies and protections that help us prevent, detect and respond to harmful and illegal content. Learn more about our three-pillar approach in our "Tackling scams and fraud together" white paper.

The Ads Transparency Centre

Launched in 2023, this searchable tool lets users look up any advertiser on Google's platforms to see basic company information and view all their current ads. It's helpful for anyone who wants to research the companies behind ads, and also for distinguishing legitimate businesses from potential scammers. The Ads Transparency Centre works alongside our advertiser verification programs to give users more control over and insight into who's advertising to them.

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Providing context on Search

Our "About this image" feature helps users verify photos they find online by showing metadata about when and where the image appeared on the web. Available through Circle to Search on Android phones, the feature can reveal if an image was AI generated by detecting watermarks and other creator-added information. This tool is part of our effort to help people understand the source and history of the visual content they encounter in Search results.

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Disclosure and labelling on YouTube

YouTube requires creators to label videos that contain realistic AI-generated or significantly altered content. Most videos get a disclosure in the description, but content that covers more sensitive topics like health, news or politics receives a more prominent warning directly on the video. YouTube also requires political advertisers to clearly disclose when their ads use AI-generated content, helping viewers understand what they're watching while they seek to make informed decisions.

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Android's always-on protections

Android's top priority is the safety of its users. We use industry-leading security practices and work closely with developers and device implementers across the entire ecosystem to ensure users are protected as soon as they power on their device. Android incorporates multiple layers of protection across its mobile operating system to detect and prevent scams, such as Phone by Google, which screens for potential spam and scam calls.

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Anti-scam policies on Google Ads

Google Ads has developed—and regularly updates—a range of policies and safety features tailored to the ads ecosystem, such as its policy against public-figure impersonation or its limited ads serving. The latter requires advertisers to go through a "get to know you" period before earning the privilege of advertising in abuse-prone areas. These dedicated policies have been key to dramatically reducing the volume of scammy ads.

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Partnerships in tackling fraud

Tackling fraud and scams remains a complex and ongoing challenge that necessitates a cross-industry response and collaboration with stakeholder groups. Google is proud to participate and share our knowledge and expertise in these collective efforts toward strengthening technological solutions and protecting users.

Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA)

GASA is a global nonprofit coalition with a broad network of over 100 members and close relationships with law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and Europol, and industry sectors such as banks and major tech companies. Google joined GASA in March 2024 as a foundation member.









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Global Signal Exchange (GSE)

In October 2024, Google entered into a partnership with GASA and the DNS Research Federation to launch the Global Signal Exchange. The GSE is a global clearing house for online scams and fraudulent bad-actor signals, with Google becoming its first foundation member. The collaboration brings together GASA's unparalleled global network of stakeholders; the DNS Research Federation's data platform, which already stores over 200 million signals; and Google's deep expertise in fighting scams and fraud. Thanks to the GSE, we're able to speed up detection and raise the alarm about new scamming campaigns across platforms, sectors and borders.

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Risk and Incident Sharing and Coordination (RISC)

RISC was launched initially as a Google framework to share security events with business partners anytime Google detects a major change in a user account's status. For example, if a user's Google Account is hijacked by a bad actor, Google can send a signal to connected apps and platforms, allowing them to take appropriate actions or put additional protections in place.






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SG Bamboo Builders

Through Google.org, our philanthropic arm, we have been supporting initiatives like Bamboo Builders, a Singapore-based social enterprise, since 2024 with a US$2 million grant to launch SG ScamWISE, an initiative that aims to protect 100,000 underserved youths and seniors against scams and online threats by 2026, including AI-based threats (e.g., deepfakes), through research, policy roundtables, curriculum development, upskilling training and a youth ambassadorship program.





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Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA)

GASA is a global nonprofit coalition with a broad network of over 100 members and close relationships with law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and Europol, and industry sectors such as banks and major tech companies. Google joined GASA in March 2024 as a foundation member.














Learn more

Global Signal Exchange (GSE)

In October 2024, Google entered into a partnership with GASA and the DNS Research Federation to launch the Global Signal Exchange. The GSE is a global clearing house for online scams and fraudulent bad-actor signals, with Google becoming its first foundation member. The collaboration brings together GASA's unparalleled global network of stakeholders; the DNS Research Federation's data platform, which already stores over 200 million signals; and Google's deep expertise in fighting scams and fraud. Thanks to the GSE, we're able to speed up detection and raise the alarm about new scamming campaigns across platforms, sectors and borders.

Learn more

Risk and Incident Sharing and Coordination (RISC)

RISC was launched initially as a Google framework to share security events with business partners anytime Google detects a major change in a user account's status. For example, if a user's Google Account were hijacked by a bad actor, Google can send a signal to connected apps and platforms, allowing them to take appropriate actions or put additional protections in place.












Learn more

SG Bamboo Builders

Through Google.org, our philanthropic arm, we have been supporting initiatives like Bamboo Builders, a Singapore-based social enterprise, since 2024 with a US$2 million grant to launch SG ScamWISE, an initiative that aims to protect 100,000 underserved youths and seniors against scams and online threats by 2026, including AI-based threats (e.g., deepfakes), through research, policy roundtables, curriculum development, upskilling training and a youth ambassadorship program.









Learn more

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Recent news in scams and fraud