Google Is Adding Spam Detection and Verified Business SMS to Messages

So you know that appointment confirmation isn’t spam.

By Christine Fisher | Dec 13, 2019
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Google via engadget

This story originally appeared on

Businesses often send one-time passwords, account alerts and appointment confirmations via text. But if you’ve ever received one of those, you know they tend to come from a random number, and bad actors can take advantage of that by disguising as one of those messages. To protect users, Google will soon from registered businesses.

When you receive a message from a verified business, you’ll see the company name, logo and a verification badge in the message thread. Businesses must sign up to use Verified SMS, and so far, 1-800-Flowers, Banco Bradesco, Kayak, Payback and SoFi are on-board. Verified SMS is rolling out gradually in the US, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Mexico, Philippines, Spain and the UK.

Google is also adding real-time spam detection. When Google suspects a message is phishy or garbage, it will show a spam warning in Messages. You can help improve the feature by reporting spam texts and vouching for texts from legitimate businesses.

Image credit: Google

All of this is in addition to the Rich Communication Services (RCS) that Google . Thanks to that feature, Android users in the US can get added Messages perks, like being able to chat over Wi-Fi, send high-quality messages and get read receipts.

Businesses often send one-time passwords, account alerts and appointment confirmations via text. But if you’ve ever received one of those, you know they tend to come from a random number, and bad actors can take advantage of that by disguising as one of those messages. To protect users, Google will soon from registered businesses.

When you receive a message from a verified business, you’ll see the company name, logo and a verification badge in the message thread. Businesses must sign up to use Verified SMS, and so far, 1-800-Flowers, Banco Bradesco, Kayak, Payback and SoFi are on-board. Verified SMS is rolling out gradually in the US, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Mexico, Philippines, Spain and the UK.

Google is also adding real-time spam detection. When Google suspects a message is phishy or garbage, it will show a spam warning in Messages. You can help improve the feature by reporting spam texts and vouching for texts from legitimate businesses.

Image credit: Google

All of this is in addition to the Rich Communication Services (RCS) that Google . Thanks to that feature, Android users in the US can get added Messages perks, like being able to chat over Wi-Fi, send high-quality messages and get read receipts.

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