Phone company EE says it has blocked one million international scam calls a day - and 11 million since July this year - following the introduction of new firewall technology. Many scam calls that reach UK consumers come from international locations purporting to be from UK-based numbers for legitimacy.
EE says the technology uses AI to review calls passing through UK Calling Line Identification (CLI) from other countries. It blocks those pretending to be based in the UK, halting them so that they never reach customers.
While it benefits every BT, Plusnet and EE customer, EE says this also stops calls from being further forwarded to other networks. In addition, it says a text anti-spam filter launched last year has blocked 200 million scam texts to date - 50 million more than predicted.
Chris Howe, customer care change director, said: “We are investing in the latest technology to ensure as many scam calls as possible are blocked before they reach our customers. Everyone should feel confident answering their phone or reading a text message without the fear of potentially getting scammed."
EE’s top tips to avoid scams
Take a moment to stop and think and trust your instincts. If it sounds too good to be true or is suspicious, there’s probably a catch
Don’t stay on the phone unless you’re 100% sure the caller is genuine
Don’t give away any of your personal details or give anyone access to your computer – if you think you might have provided your bank account details, contact your bank immediately
What to do if you receive a suspicious call:
Text the phone number and incident to 7726, free of charge, so your mobile phone provider can investigate
Block numbers after reporting them
Make others aware of these types of calls and the numbers they are coming from
