Meet dAIsy, the scam-fighting AI bot

Online scams that try to trick you into revealing sensitive information can cause huge problems when they work. But even failed attempts can be extremely annoying and time-consuming. More than one in five people in the UK (22%) report experiencing a fraud attempt every single week, according to an O2 survey.

And while 71% of Brits would like to get their own back against scammers that have tried to trick them or their loved ones, a reluctance to waste their own time ranked as the top reason why they wouldn’t bait scammers themselves. 

We’re investing heavily in the fight against fraud, rolling out AI-powered spam-fighting tools and new caller identification services to all mobile customers at no extra cost to help protect them. We also block millions of fraudulent texts and calls from reaching customers phones every month. 

And now we’ve created a state-of-the-art Conversational AI bot programmed to speak with scammers on the phoneline for as long as possible. That wastes their time and keeps them away from customers. Meet dAIsy, the scam-fighting AI bot. 

We’ve scattered dAIsy’s details across the internet to attract scam callers to a mobile number she operates. The interactions dAIsy has with scammers have been recorded and compiled to create a video designed to kick-start a wider campaign raising awareness about the methods scammers use. 

 Influencer and former Love Islander Amy Hart, herself a victim of the scammers has appeared in the video and is backing the campaign, working with ‘dAIsy’ to expose fraudsters crooked tactics and help O2 customers swerve the scammers.  

“I know first-hand just how sophisticated nasty fraudsters can be,” Amy says. “That’s why I’ve teamed up with O2 and AI Scambaiter dAIsy to take the fight back to them, keeping them busy with calls going nowhere.

But whilst I love a wind up, it’s scary to see the lengths scammers go to steal everything from passwords to bank details regardless of who they’re speaking to. Whether your young or old, anyone can be a victim of a scam that’s why we can never be too careful when it comes to unexpected calls or texts. If you have even the tiniest doubt about who you’re speaking to, the best thing to do is to hang up the phone and call back on a trusted number.”

 Christmas is a particularly important time to watch out for scams, because so many of us are doing a lot of online shopping. It’s like, well, Christmas for scammers. You can protect yourself by following our smart advice: always be wary of offers that seem too good to be true; never enter payment details unless you’re sure the company asking is legit; watch out for rogue confirmation or delivery messages from dodgy sources; and never shop on public WiFi networks.  

 And you can play your part in helping us bust scams too. If ever you receive a scam call or text, you can report it to 7726 (it literally spells SCAM) for free. We’ll investigate and potentially block the number, which should waste the scammer’s time and ruin their day. See how they like it.