Google is rolling out a major security overhaul for Android aimed at cracking down on banking scams, malware and phone theft, with several new protections arriving in Android 17 and others backported to older devices.

Announced during Google’s Android Show ahead of Google I/O, the headline feature is a new “verified financial calls” system that can automatically terminate scam calls impersonating banks.

Android will check with a participating banking app in real time to confirm whether the institution is genuinely calling the user. If the app confirms no call is being made, Android will hang up automatically.

The feature will launch in coming weeks on Android 11 and later, initially supporting Revolut, Itaú and Nubank, with more banks expected later this year.

Google says phone spoofing scams are responsible for almost US$1 billion in global losses annually.

Android’s AI-powered Live Threat Detection is also being expanded to identify suspicious app behaviour, including SMS forwarding, hidden accessibility overlays and malware tactics such as apps hiding their icons before launching in the background.

Other security additions include automatic hiding of one-time passwords from most apps for three hours, malware scanning for APK downloads in Chrome, and stronger theft protections that can lock stolen devices behind biometric authentication.

Android 17 will also introduce official Android OS verification for Pixel devices, post-quantum cryptography protections and enhanced privacy controls for location and contact sharing.

Most features will run automatically in the background, requiring little or no user intervention.