Phone Company Uses AI Tool to Redirect Scammers to Fake Grandma Who Keeps Them on the Line with Long Stories That Go Nowhere

A British phone company is getting back at scammers with an AI tool that keeps fraudsters on the line with a fake grandma telling pointless stories and offering fabricated bank information.

England-based O2, a telecommunications provider, created the AI tool Daisy and connected it to phone numbers on contact lists targeted by phone scammers. When dialed, the call is intercepted by Daisy and an older-sounding woman begins speaking.

By keeping these con artists on the line with a robot, for up to 40 minutes in some instances, they are able to keep them off the line with humans, MyLondon reported.

The company is also learning better ways to protect customers by studying Daisy's calls.

"We're committed to playing our part in stopping the scammers, investing in everything from firewall technology to block out scam texts to AI-powered spam call detection to keep our customers safe," Murray MacKenzie, director of fraud at Virgin Media O2, told MyLondon.

She added that Daisy is "turning the tables on scammers–outsmarting and outmaneuvering them at their own cruel game simply by keeping them on the line."

MacKenzie reiterated, however, that it is still important for people to remain vigilant when speaking on the telephone since scammers are "operating full-time call centers specifically to target Brits."