Facebook is introducing in-app notifications feature in Messenger to warn about potential scammers. Read on to know more…
Facebook is introducing in-app notifications feature in Messenger to warn about potential scammers who are about to connect with someone impersonating someone else or simply trying to scam them. In other words, individual users below the age of 18 will now receive alerts if an adult is attempting to engage in an inappropriate conversation, as per Facebook.
According to Mashable, if you are talking to someone and they ask for money out of nowhere, Facebook’s Messenger will essentially tap you on the shoulder with these “safety notices” and pop up a “Steps you can take” alert, suggesting what you should do in order to avoid a potential scam or fraud. The feature goes live for both iOS and Android users.
As Facebook Messenger moves to end-to-end encryption, it is investing in privacy-preserving tools to keep people safe without accessing message content. “Privacy, safety and security are fundamental to Messenger. We work hard to ensure Messenger is a safe place to connect with the people who matter most while also protecting their privacy,” according to Jay Sullivan, Director of Product Management, Messenger Privacy and Safety.
Jay Sullivan, wrote in an official blog post, “As we move to end-to-end encryption, we are investing in privacy-preserving tools like this to keep people safe without accessing message content. We developed these safety tips with machine learning that looks at behavioral signals like an adult sending a large amount of friend or message requests to people under 18. This ensures that the new features will be available and effective when Messenger is end-to-end encrypted.”
“We developed these safety tips with machine learning that looks at behavioral signals like an adult sending a large amount of friend or message requests to people under 18,” informed Sullivan.
Messenger already has special protections in place for minors that limit contact from adults they aren’t connected to, and uses machine learning to detect and disable the accounts of adults who are engaging in inappropriate interactions with children. The new safety feature educates people under the age of 18 to be cautious when interacting with an adult they may not know and empowers them to take action before responding to a message.
Technicalities
Facebook Messenger is getting a new security feature that will show a pop-up warning if it detects that the person you’re talking to might be a fraudster. Facebook says the new AI-based feature has been developed to keep users safe from “potentially harmful interactions and possible scams.”
Once users get a safety notice that the person on the other end of the chat has an account that mimics someone else’s profile, they can choose to block them. The system uses machine learning to identify behavioral patterns such as a person sending a ton of friend or message requests to a large number of people or has a duplicate profile.
The safety notices will also educate minors on how to be cautious while interacting with an adult while online, and will even dole out tips for identifying scammers and frauds. The safety warnings first started appearing in March as a test on Android, but a wider rollout will commence next week that also includes users in the iOS ecosystem.
