A mobile network operator has called in the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the battle against phone scammers.<\/p>\n
Virgin Media O2 in the UK has built an AI persona called Daisy with the sole purpose of keeping scammers occupied for as long as possible. Basically, until the scammers give up, because Daisy won\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Daisy uses several AI models that work together listening to what scammers have to say, and then responding in a lifelike manner to give the scammers the idea they are working on an \u201ceasy\u201d target. Playing on the scammers’ biases about older people, Daisy usually acts as a chatty granny.<\/p>\n
According to Virgin Media O2\u2019s press release<\/a> Daisy has successfully kept numerous fraudsters on calls for 40 minutes at a time. To achieve this \u201cGranny Daisy\u201d will tell the scammers all about her passion for knitting, her cat Fluffy, and provide exasperated callers with false personal information including made up bank details.<\/p>\n The idea behind Daisy is two-fold. Not only does it waste the scammers\u2019 time\u2014time they could have spent defrauding real people\u2014but it also raises awareness, through posts such as this one, that the person you are talking to on the phone could be very different from what you imagine.<\/p>\n Raising awareness about how AI can be used to deceive people is necessary: We’ve reported<\/a> about how scammers have used AI used to fake voices of loved ones in a \u201cI\u2019ve been in an accident\u201d scam to warn others about the scam.<\/p>\n Virgin Media O2 research learned that 67% of Brits are concerned about being the target of fraud and 22% experience a fraud attempt every single week. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC)<\/a> received fraud reports from 2.6 million consumers in 2023, with imposter scams the most commonly reported fraud category.<\/p>\n The criminals often pretend to work for your bank or a delivery company that needs a payment before they can deliver a package, with the end goal of the victim disclosing their banking details.<\/p>\n It\u2019s too bad that Daisy can\u2019t intercept the calls from the scammers. For now, the scammers will have to call one of the phone numbers that Daisy answers, which have cleverly been circulated on contact lists known to be used by scammers.<\/p>\n If you’d like to hear Daisy in action here is a video<\/a> with some actual audio.<\/p>\n Daisy was set up with the help of one of YouTube\u2019s best known scam baiters, Jim Browning<\/a>. Behind the scenes there are several people that enjoy being a real life time waster, but they can only occupy so many because their time is limited.<\/p>\n We asked Tammy Stewart, one of Malwarebytes\u2019 researchers, who has made it a hobby to waste the time of phishers herself, and she was enthusiastic about the idea of having a \u201cDaisy.\u201d In fact, she\u2019d like to have several and she thinks they could be very effective.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t just report on phone security\u2014we provide it<\/strong><\/p>\n Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your mobile devices by\u00a0downloading Malwarebytes for iOS<\/a>, and Malwarebytes for Android<\/a> today.<\/p>\n
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