The increasing rate of spam messages have heightened the fear of many in
this digital era, of which Africa has the three top countries where users
receive most spam texts in a month.
Google has however introduced spam protection tools, aims to fight the rise of spam SMS in the proprietary Android Messages app. One of the new features is the Verified SMS feature. Through this feature, Google will verify any text from a strange number if it’s from a legitimate business or not.
Verified businesses will display business details like name, logo, and a
verification badge inside the message thread. The company explained that the
verification process is done per/message basis, and Google does not receive
your messages.
SMS texts with no verification, however, doesn’t mean the business is not
legit. This is because not all businesses have been registered on Google’s
database yet.
Verified SMS is rolling out gradually in few countries (excluding Kenya) for
now, but it will be made available in the global markets in due time.
On top of the Verified SMS feature, Google also tipped on its Real-time spam
protection tools available on Android Messages.
“With Spam protection for Messages, we warn you of suspected spam and unsafe websites we’ve detected. If you see a suspected spam warning in Messages you can help us improve our spam models by letting us know if it’s spam or not,” Roma Slyusarchuk, Software Engineer of Messages at Google concluded.
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