From the source
Google DeepMind and the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) announced an on-device scam detection model on October 14, 2026, built to warn smartphone users about manipulative conversations without sending private messages to the cloud, in a country where scams have accounted for more than S$4 billion in losses since 2019.
Scam Losses and the Shift to Social Engineering According to the announcement on the Google DeepMind blog , authored by JJ Geewax and Miguel de Andrés, scams make up over half of Singapore’s reported crimes and have accounted for more than S$4 billion in losses since 2019.
The announcement says scam tactics have moved from simple phishing to complex social engineering, in which attackers build convincing conversations to manipulate victims before asking for money, and that such scams now account for up to 80% of all losses.
Generic models often struggle with localised deception techniques, making scam detection harder, the announcement states.
Google DeepMind’s lightweight Gemma model was fine-tuned on local scam conversations, ranging from impersonations of public institutions, banks, and local figures to trending regional schemes.
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