The warning feature helps to protect customers from falling victim to scams or fraudulent calls. It provides an additional layer of security for O2 network users. By automatically activating the feature, O2 is taking a proactive step in safeguarding its customers. This initiative demonstrates O2's commitment to enhancing the safety and security of its users' phone calls. Customers can now feel more confident in answering their phone calls without the fear of potential scams.
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More than 150 million scam and spam calls have been flagged by O2's AI-powered 'call defence' technology since its launch in November. The feature automatically activates on all compatible phones on the O2 network, aiming to warn customers of potentially fraudulent calls before they answer.
When the technology identifies a call as suspect, the customer will see 'suspected scam' on the screen, allowing them to decline the call or block the number. O2 reports that the number of flagged calls is now increasing to as many as 50 million per month, with the number of compatible devices also rising daily as people upgrade their devices to the latest software and operating systems.
According to O2, calls labeled as 'suspected scam' are being answered 42% less often and are 89% shorter than calls that are not flagged. The system can also automatically block some fraudulent calls, with the most common scams being fraudsters impersonating HMRC, followed by scammers claiming to be from Amazon, car payment providers, immigration officials, and mobile phone deal providers.
Murray Mackenzie, director of fraud prevention at Virgin Media O2, stated, 'With more than 50 million suspected nuisance and scam calls now being flagged every month, we're empowering O2 customers in the fight against fraud, arming them with important information when deciding whether to pick up the phone.'
O2's call defense system only flags calls on its network, so the actual number of scam calls made across all networks is likely to be much higher. A voice intelligence firm, Hiya, which developed the call defense scheme with O2, revealed that the average Briton receives four nuisance calls each month, potentially totaling up to 200 million unwanted calls across all networks.
O2 has introduced caller identification for businesses, known as Brand ID, which provides users with information about the organization making the call. Approximately 200 businesses have signed up for the service, including major banks and insurers, with 9.5 million calls passing through the system.
Mackenzie added, 'This free AI service is just one of the many ways we're working to keep Virgin Media O2 customers safe, and builds on our work to block more than 168 million scam texts in the last two years alone, partly as a result of scams being reported.'
Most UK phone networks participate in a joint reporting scheme where customers can forward suspicious texts and details of calls. Suspected scam calls and texts can be reported by texting 7726. To report a scam text, forward it to 7726; to report a call, text the word 'Call' followed by the scammer's phone number to 7726.
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