Summary
- Impersonation scams are rampant, causing millions in losses. Google is taking action by adding government entity badges to official apps on the Play Store.
- The new badges provide users with peace of mind, ensuring they are not dealing with a fraudulent app. Google aims to expand this feature to other countries.
- Publishers can also undergo independent validation for app security, enhancing trust and data privacy. The future of Play Store badges remains to be seen.
Impersonation scams are on the rise. On its website, the Federal Trade Commission states that it received over 160,000 reports of government impersonation scams. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reports that government impersonation scams were responsible for nearly $400 million in losses to regular people in 2023, over 60% higher than 2022. Although most of this fraud takes place over the phone, more and more of it is happening online. One surprising vector for government impersonation fraud is on the Google Play Store, but as of today, Google is doing something about it.
What is Google doing
If you look at the official government apps of select countries on the mobile Play Store app, you’ll now see an icon on the information ribbon above the Install button which indicates that the app has been vetted by Google as coming from a government entity (via Android Authority). Google first announced the feature in a single sentence at the end of a post on the Android Developers Blog last November. The new badge isn’t available for every country just yet, but we did confirm that it is in use for Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
These new badges are a first step in a wider rollout by Google. Back in November, the company announced that it was allowing app developers to have the security of their apps independently validated. Apps that passed this validation process would be able to display a badge touting that fact. Those badges are kind of buried in the Data Safety portion of the app page, however, and aren’t easily found unless you know where to look. The new government badges are front and center, and tell you immediately that you’re dealing with an official app.
How to install the Google Play Store on any Android device
It can be tricky, but these steps might just work for you
More badges please
I’m looking forward to seeing more badges on the Play Store. Large organizations or publishers could have their identities verified, allowing for a quick confirmation that you’re not dealing with a copycat. Publishers could submit to voluntary privacy audits, letting users know at a glance which apps will keep their data safe. Only time will tell what’s next for the Play Store, since Google isn’t sharing what badges are still in the works, or what countries will be next to receive these government badges.
