Joe Maring / Android Authority
TL;DR
- An Android Authority teardown has revealed that Google is working on a feature to fight phone number spoofing.
- Strings suggest that the Google Phone app could warn you when a caller is pretending to be one of your contacts.
- This comes roughly a month after we discovered Google’s work on a Verified caller feature.
The Google Phone app has plenty of great features, especially if you’re using a Pixel phone. However, spam call protection, spam detection, and Call Screen are particularly neat tools against marketing calls and scams. Now, it looks like Google is working on another layer of protection against malicious callers.
We cracked open the Google Phone app (version 222.0.913376317 for Pixels) and found evidence of phone number spoofing detection. Check out the strings below.
Code
<string name="incall_contact_checker_alert_title">This may not be %1$s</string>
<string name="incall_contact_checker_alert_default_title">This may not be a real caller</string>
<string name="incall_contact_checker_alert_description">"Someone may be pretending to call from your contact's number"</string>
<string name="incall_contact_checker_alert_end_call_action">Hang up</string>Don’t want to miss the best from Android Authority?
In other words, the Google Phone app could notify you if someone is likely pretending to call from a contact’s phone number. The first string has placeholder text (%1$s) which ostensibly refers to your contact’s saved name.
“Someone may be pretending to call from your contact’s number,” reads an excerpt from another string, while the final string suggests that you’ll be given the option to hang up the call.
Have you been called by someone who spoofed your contact’s number?
0 votes
This could be an effective way to fight phone number spoofing, also known as caller ID spoofing. This practice sees someone tricking your phone’s caller ID into displaying an established or saved phone number while calling you. However, the caller isn’t actually dialing you from those numbers, but from an unrelated number altogether. These bad actors are relying on you answering the call because you think it’s coming from a saved contact or familiar number.
It’s unclear how Google would accurately detect phone number spoofing. Nevertheless, this development comes roughly a month after we discovered that Google was working on a Verified caller feature. This system-level option would authenticate calls from participating apps and automatically hang up on false numbers. This also comes as the industry quietly embraces the STIR/SHAKEN call authentication protocol to verify calls.
In any event, Pixel phones already have a great reputation for tackling sketchy calls. So we’re glad Google is continuing to bring improvements to Pixels and the Google Phone app.
⚠️ An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
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More on someone pretending to be your contact
Stay tuned for updates on someone pretending to be your contact as the story develops. Related: These AI Scams All Have Red Flags. Here’s How to Spot Them.
Frequently Asked Questions
An Android Authority teardown of Google Phone version 222.0.913376317 for Pixels found code for phone number spoofing detection. The app could show an alert reading 'This may not be' followed by the contact's name, with the message 'Someone may be pretending to call from your contact's number' and an option to hang up.
Also called caller ID spoofing, it is when a caller tricks your phone's caller ID into displaying an established or saved number while actually calling from an unrelated number. Scammers rely on you answering because you think the call comes from a saved contact.
The development comes roughly a month after the discovery of a Verified caller feature that would authenticate calls from participating apps and automatically hang up on false numbers. It also follows the industry's quiet adoption of the STIR/SHAKEN call authentication protocol.
Not necessarily. It was found through an APK teardown, which reveals work-in-progress code, and such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
