Lots of companies and services use SMS to send alerts and notifications to their customers, but it's possible for these text messages to be faked by malicious parties in an attempt to get your personal info. Google wants to help protect you from that scenario.

Verified SMS for Messages will confirm the true identity of a business that's texting you. Texts are verified on a per-message basis, and when an SMS has been verified, you'll see the business name and logo along with a verification badge in the message thread. These verified texts are not sent to Google.

Some of the first companies to participate in Verified SMS include 1-800-Flowers, Banco Bradesco, Kayak, Payback, and SoFi. Google is using the feature itself, with Google Pay India and Google verification codes using Verified SMS.

Verified SMS is rolling out in Google's Messages app in nine countries: the U.S., India, Mexico, Brazil, the U.K., France, Philippines, Spain, and Canada. More countries will be added in the future.

Google is also offering real-time spam detection for text messages. When you get an SMS that might be spam, you'll see a "Suspected spam" alert at the top of the thread along with options to report as spam or not spam. You also have the option of blocking a conversation so you won't receive any messages from that number in the future.

Spam detection in Messages is already available in several countries and is rolling out broadly in the U.S. today.