If you’re an O2 customer, you might have noticed a warning popping up on your screen before you’ve even answered a call. That’s no accident, it’s AI doing the heavy lifting to keep you safe.
The service is called Call Defence, and it’s completely free. Built in partnership with a company called Hiya, it kicks in automatically whenever a call comes in from a number you don’t have saved.
The AI scans a whole range of data points in real-time to figure out if something seems off and if it does, you’ll see a clear warning label on your screen before you decide whether to pick up. It also goes one step further. If a number is already known to be fraudulent, the call gets blocked outright before it ever reaches you.
O2 launched Call Defence back in November 2024, and since then it’s been busy. The service has now flagged over one billion suspected scam and spam calls, and around 70 million calls every month are currently being labelled as suspicious. That figure has grown significantly as more customers upgrade their devices and software.
These numbers aren’t surprising considering scammers have gotten increasingly sophisticated. From banks to government departments, they will impersonate anyone that they think will make you more likely to stay on the line.
Murray Mackenzie, director of fraud prevention at Virgin Media O2, said, “At Virgin Media O2, customers are our top priority, and we’re investing heavily to keep them safe from scams and ensure we’re a network they can rely on. This includes using the latest AI technology for good, to proactively stop fraudsters from getting to our customers.
“Having warned our customers about more than 1 billion calls, and prevented more than 1 billion dodgy messages from ever reaching them, today marks another milestone in our fight against fraudsters. With scammers stopping at nothing – impersonating well known brands and government departments – to earn victims’ trust, it’s never been more important to stay vigilant and report suspicious activity to 7726.”
