Google is increasing its efforts to fight digital fraud in India by adding on device scam detection for Pixel 9 smartphones and introducing screen sharing protection for financial applications. The announcement comes as the country faces a sharp rise in fraud linked to digital payments. This rise has been driven by rapid internet adoption and the growing use of smartphones for everyday financial activity.
Data from the Reserve Bank of India shows that fraud involving digital transactions made up more than half of all reported bank fraud in 2024. There were 13516 such cases, which resulted in losses of five point two billion rupees, which is about fifty eight point six one million dollars. The Ministry of Home Affairs estimates that online scams caused losses of nearly seventy billion rupees, which is around seven hundred eighty nine million dollars, in the first five months of 2025. Experts believe that many incidents are still not reported.
Google announced on Thursday that it is expanding its real time scam detection capability in India. The feature analyses active phone calls using Gemini Nano and works entirely on the device. The audio does not go to Google servers. “The feature is off by default and applies only to calls from unknown numbers, and it plays a beep during the conversation to notify participants.” It was launched first as a beta in the United States for English speaking Pixel 9 users in March.
Google told a common noun that the scam detection feature will at first work only on Pixel 9 and later models in India. It will also be limited to English speaking users and the warning will appear only in English. This means that coverage is narrow in a country dominated by Android but where Pixel devices had less than one percent market share in 2024. Google says it is working to bring the feature to more Android phones but has not given a timeline.
The company is also testing a new system to prevent screen sharing scams. These scams are increasingly used by criminals to steal sensitive information such as OTPs and PINs. The pilot will work on Android 11 and above. It will show alerts in financial apps like Paytm, Google Pay, and Navi. Users will also see a one tap option to stop screen sharing and disconnect the call.
Google continues to expand its wider anti fraud work. It uses Play Protect to block harmful loan apps. It sends more than one million fraud alerts every week through Google Pay. It has also expanded its public awareness campaign called DigiKavach, which has reached more than two hundred fifty million users. However, the company still faces questions about scam apps that appear on the Play Store, which shows the ongoing challenge of protecting India’s large smartphone ecosystem.
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