CALIFORNIA: Reports suggest that WhatsApp is creating a new feature for the safety of its users, which will help them identify potential scam messages before having to take action.
According to WABetaInfo‘s report, WhatsApp is currently testing a Scam Alert feature in the beta stage. This alert will notify users when they receive messages from any unknown contact, alerting them to any risks involved.
Rather than blocking these individuals or intervening in the user‘s chat, the Scam Alert feature will act as an advisory system.
Users will know right away if they have received a potentially suspicious message by looking at the chat – the alert will be in their chat, so they can evaluate the situation themselves and then decide on how they want to respond.
Once the user has determined the authenticity of the message from an unknown source, they will be able to either block the sender and report them to WhatsApp or continue their conversation if they believe the sender is legitimate.
The overall intent of this feature is to provide users with an early warning of a possible fraudulent act. A major component of the Scam Alert feature is that WhatsApp places strong emphasis on the protection of users‘ privacy and data.
The report indicated that all analysis of suspicious messages will be performed solely on the user‘s device, so that WhatsApp‘s servers would not receive any content from a message, allowing end-to-end encryption to be preserved.
