WhatsApp is moving closer to releasing its new Scam Alert feature, with the security tool now becoming available to some Android users enrolled in the beta program. The feature was first spotted in development in June before Meta officially announced it earlier this month.

According to WABetaInfo, Scam Alert has appeared in WhatsApp beta version 2.26.34.1 for Android. The feature is designed to warn users when a message from an unknown contact appears to have characteristics associated with scams.

When a Scam Alert warning appears, users can choose to mark the sender as trusted or block and report the account. If a conversation is marked as trusted, WhatsApp also gives users the option to share the last five messages from the chat to help improve the feature’s accuracy.

Scam Alert is optional and needs to be manually enabled through WhatsApp’s Settings > Account menu on Android. This means users will not automatically have the feature active when it becomes available to them.

Meta says the feature uses an on device machine learning model to identify potential scam messages. Message content is not sent away from the device for classification, and conversations are not automatically reported to WhatsApp, Meta or any other party.

The company says this approach allows Scam Alert to work alongside WhatsApp’s end to end encryption while giving users control over whether they want to use the additional protection.

The feature is currently limited to a portion of Android beta users, but its wider release could be getting closer as testing continues.