One UI 8 Will Bring Voice Phishing Detection to Galaxy Phones, But Not Everywhere

Voice phishing, or vishing, is on the rise. Hackers are now using AI to mimic voices of people you know — like family members, colleagues, or your boss — to trick you into handing over sensitive information. Just recently, attackers pulled off a vishing scam targeting Cisco customers and stole their personal data. Such is the scope. The good news is Samsung will roll out a new “Voice Phishing Suspected Call Alert” feature in One UI 8 that will warn users about potential scams.

Samsung is rolling out a Voice Phishing detection feature with One UI 8, but only Korea

The bad news? Samsung won’t be rolling out this feature worldwide — for now, it’s limited to South Korea. The company recently introduced a new security tool called “Voice Phishing Suspected Call Alert” as part of the stable One UI 8 update, via Korean Community forum. This feature uses real-time AI analysis to detect potential scams when you make calls to unknown numbers. Check out some machine-translated screenshots, courtesy of Android Authority:

Whhen you dial a number that isn’t saved in your contacts, your phone will display a message while the AI evaluates the call. If the system suspects the number might be involved in a scam, it will immediately send you a warning notification. Samsung’s AI is powered by data from Korea’s National Police Agency and the National Institute of Scientific Investigation. Which is what helps it get smarter at spotting suspicious activity.

This feature is meant to protect users from voice phishing, which is a growing problem where scammers trick people over the phone to steal money or personal information. But apart from being a Korea-only feature, it has yet another problem.

The feature currently only works when making calls to unknown numbers, not when receiving calls. That I believe, kind of, defeats the whole purpose. It won’t alert users if a scammer calls them, which is how most voice phishing usually happens. But hopefully, Samsung takes note and brings the feature sooner to more markets, including the US.