O2 has created a gang of AI grannies in a bid to tackle phone scammers – by chatting with them for as long as possible.
The ‘scambaiter’ software sounds exactly like an older woman and hopes to keep them in line and away from the general public.
Known as Daisy, she has kept scammers on the phone for up to 40 minutes at a time, frustrating them with long-winded stories before giving them fake banking details.
The old cutie has been added to lists of vulnerable people’s phone numbers from which scammers choose their next victims – with her voice playing on demographics they think are easy prey.
O2 said that by tricking fraudsters into thinking they were scamming a real person, Daisy prevented them from targeting real victims.
The old sweetheart, known as Daisy, has been added to lists of vulnerable people’s phone numbers from which scammers choose their next victims
In an entertaining video, scammers were heard getting wilder as they faced off against the gangster-bashing grandma
She has kept scammers on the line for up to 40 minutes at a time, frustrating them by telling long-winded stories before giving them fake banking details.
The ‘scambaiter’ software sounds exactly like an older woman and hopes to keep them in line and away from the general public
And she also exposed the common tactics used so the company can help customers better protect themselves.
In an entertaining video, scammers were heard getting wilder as they faced off against the gangster-bashing grandma.
It comes after research found that seven in 10 people want to get back at the scammers but can’t be bothered wasting their own time doing so.
Murray MacKenzie, fraud director at Virgin Media O2, said: ‘We want to do our part to stop the scammers and are investing in everything from firewall technology to block scam texts to AI-powered spam call detection to protect our customers.
‘The newest member of our fraud prevention team, Daisy, turns the tables on scammers – outwitting and outwitting them at their own cruel game, simply by stringing them along.
‘But crucially, Daisy also reminds us that no matter how convincing someone on the other end of the line is, they are not always who you think they are.
‘As scammers operate full-time call centers specifically targeting Britons, we urge everyone to remain vigilant and do their part to stop fraud by forwarding unreliable calls and texts to 7726 for free.’
The tool was created as part of Virgin Media O2’s Swerve the Scammers campaign and has been rung up in the run-up to International Fraud Awareness Week, which takes place next week.