Google’s cooking up an Android verified caller tool to keep you safe

Criminals have been using the telephone to scam people since its infancy, and the arrival of smartphones only raised the stakes. While there’s the potential there for us to be a lot more vulnerable, tech also affords companies like Google new ways to fight back against scammers. We just saw Google bring some new in-call protections for financial apps to the US late last year, and now we’re checking out what might be coming up next.

One of the most powerful tools in a scammer’s arsenal is the ability to spoof the number they’re calling from, making it look like they’re someone legitimate. And despite the rise of systems like STIR/SHAKEN to resist spoofing (originally deployed as a response to robocallers), people are still being tricked.

An in-development “Verified caller” system in Android could help make that sort of deception even more difficult. Unlike the existing Verified Calls system, which was a feature of the Google Phone app, this would be deployed to Android at the system level through Play Services — hopefully encouraging wider use.

One of the key components of this new tool may be support for detecting scams incorporating DNO, or do-not-originate numbers. These tend to be publicly listed numbers of corporations or governmental entities — the number you might call if you were trying to reach one of these organizations. Critically, they’re not used for placing calls to customers — hence the DNO name. In the past, scammers might have tried to spoof their number as one of these in order to make the call seem like it was on the up-and-up.

Phone networks are already supposed to block calls claiming they’re from these DNO numbers — but as we know, carriers are far from perfect. Verified caller would add another set of DNO protections on the receiving end, checking incoming numbers against those designated as DNO.

Just like with Verified Calls, it looks like things are going to be opt-in on the app side. For instance, if you had your bank’s app installed, it could tell Android which DNO numbers it should screen for. That seems a little less than ideal, as it wouldn’t offer protection for services you access through a browser, but it’s still something, and being able to enjoy these safeguards even without using Google’s Phone app is undeniably an upgrade.

Right now, this system isn’t yet active, and we’re still not sure when Google might be planning to flipping it live. We’ll keep an eye out for further signs of progress.