Vodafone UK’s New SMS Firewall Dramatically Cuts SCAM Texts

Mobile operator Vodafone UK reports that the introduction of their new SMS Firewall, which began at the start of September 2021 and works to both identify and block fraudulent text messages, resulted in the daily average volume of scam texts falling by an impressive 76% in December 2021 compared to May. In short, less SPAM for Christmas.

In total the new firewall, which not only examines the sender and intended recipient of a text in real-time, but also a whole host of other details, has blocked over 45 million phishing messages since the end of August 2021.

Vodafone has also made it easier for Android users to use its free ‘7726‘ service to report suspicious texts (you just forward the message to this number). Android owners can also report suspicious texts in Google’s Messages app simply by tapping a button.

Ross Doherty, UK Senior Fraud Manager at Vodafone, said:

“We can all fall for a fraudulent message, which is why we continue to work really hard to beat the scams and prevent them from getting through.

The December figures are really encouraging, but fraudsters continue to find new ways to attempt to scam customers into sharing personal and financial information. So, we continue to ask our customers to remain vigilant and report any suspicious text activity to us at 7726.

This will help ensure we continue to keep one step ahead of the scams.”

In an entirely separate development, Vodafone has joined the Good Things Foundation’s National Databank, which aims to provide free mobile broadband data for community groups and the people they support. As part of that the operator has pledged 24 million GigaBytes of data, which they claim is enough to connect 200,000 people for six months (we’ll have to think about the usage maths on that one for a bit..).