Virgin Media O2 Harness AI to Flag 1 Billion Suspected SCAM and SPAM Calls

Mobile and broadband operator VMO2 (Virgin Media and O2) have today revealed that they’ve used AI technologies, such as Call Defence from Hiya, to flag over 1 billion “suspected” scam and spam calls to UK customers before they even pick up the phone (more than 70 million suspected scam and spam calls are currently being flagged every month).

Like other UK telecoms providers, VMO2 already uses various types of threat detection and filtering technologies to prevent malicious messages and calls from being delivered on their network. It also analyses reports from customers – those who share suspicious messages for free via 7726 – to monitor trends and improve scam detection.

For example, ‘Call Defence’ uses AI to analyse call behaviour in real time to determine if the call could be risky. If the call is deemed risky, customers are warned with a label on their phone screen. Alongside labelling suspicious calls, the technology also blocks known fraudulent calls.

O2 first launched the service for its customers in November 2024, and today around 70 million calls every month are being labelled as suspected scam or spam. This is a significant increase since a year ago (when it was flagging 50 million suspicious calls every month) as more customers have unlocked the free benefit through device and software upgrades.

Top Scam Calls in January

New data from VMO2 and Hiya provides insights into the companies most often being impersonated and methods used by scammers to target victims over the phone:

1. Amazon: Scammers impersonate Amazon customer support, claiming there’s an issue with an order or a fraudulent purchase. Their goal is to trick victims into providing account credentials or credit card information, often by urging them to verify details or resolve a fake problem
2. HMRC: Both live and prerecorded robocalls threatening legal action for unpaid taxes.
3. Banking: A fraudster phones a potential victim claiming to be from their bank’s fraud team, security team or customer service. Their goal is to trick them into handing over sensitive information, granting access to their accounts or transferring money to them ‘to keep it safe’.
4. Payment services – VISA: Scammers claim there’s a fraudulent charge or an issue processing a payment. Their goal is to trick victims into providing credit card information under the guise of resolving the problem. This type of scam is especially common during the holiday season when people are making frequent purchases and may be more likely to believe an urgent payment-related alert.
5. Insurance: Scammers impersonate insurance providers, claiming policy issues, missed payments or a new claim that requires urgent action. Their objective is to pressure victims into sharing personal details or payment information.

The operator added that calls labelled as “suspected scam” are answered 42% less often and last 89% less time than unflagged calls.

Murray Mackenzie, Director of Fraud Prevention at VMO2, 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.”

We should point out that Mobile UK, which is a trade body that represents UK mobile operators, recently launched a new tracker that is updated monthly and shows how many scam SMS messages were blocked during the prior month, as well as how many have been blocked in total to date across UK mobile networks (we only wish it gave a figure for each network).

Ofcom are also busy developing new industry rules and solutions with mobile operators to help further tackle messaging scams (example) and scam calls.