WhatsApp Beta Tests AI Tool to Detect Scam Messages

Meta is beta testing a new Scam Alert tool for WhatsApp that uses on-device machine learning to flag messages containing patterns associated with fraud, such as romance-baiting or urgent requests.

The feature operates locally on the user's device to protect privacy, and users can manually opt-in to share data from the last five messages with Meta to improve the model's accuracy.

The initiative follows significant financial losses, with the Federal Trade Commission reporting that consumers lost $2.1 billion to social media scams in 2025, including $425 million specifically on WhatsApp.