EE has revealed that it’s blocked more than 250million scam texts since launching a fraud-busting filter.
The BT-owned network has stopped 252million dodgy texts from reaching customers in the last year and a half.
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Clever tech is able to detect scams and stop them from even landing on a person’s iPhone or Android smartphone.
EE has also blocked 53million bogus international calls from going through.
It comes amid a sharp rise in scam texts and calls in recent years, tricking people out of money on everything from Covid vaccines to fake delivery alerts.
The network has revealed to The Sun that the biggest spike its seen so far was in March 2022 with over 35million dubious texts banned.
This coincided with a rise in Omicron-related Covid scams.
Cases also shot up in November and December last year as fraudsters tried to rip people off during Black Friday and Christmas.
There was a noticeable dip in August too, suggesting scammers might be taking a bit of a holiday.
EE introduced a special anti-spam filter in July 2021.
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But today the firm is going a step further, partnering with Hiya, a service that uses AI technology to identify and clearly label nuisance and scam calls at a network level for both EE mobile and BT Digital Voice customers.
Hiya Protect is able to eliminate caller anonymity by verifying who is calling or labelling the call with a scam warning.
The caller can then decide to block the call or send to voicemail.
It’ll launch later this year.
Christian Thrane, Managing Director for Marketing at BT and EE said: “EE has led the way against fraud since we launched our text anti-spam filter in 2021, blocking over 252 million scam texts to date.
“Partnering with Hiya is the next step in our strategic commitment to protect our customers against fraud.”
Tips to avoid scam texts and calls
Always take a moment to stop and think – trust your instincts, if it sounds too good to be true, it’s probably a scam.
Don’t stay on a phone unless you’re certain it’s a genuine caller.
Never give away any personal details or access to your computer, even if they claim to be from a trusted company.
Forward any suspicious texts and phone numbers to 7726, which is a free service so experts can block the number and prevent others falling victim.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
