O2 now blocks suspected scam calls before your phone rings

O2, a UK mobile network, has started blocking suspected scam calls before they reach customers' phones. The service is free and is rolling out across the network after a trial earlier this autumn. More than 3 million fraudulent calls are expected to be blocked every week.

What changed

Until now, O2 mostly warned customers when a suspicious number was calling. Now it stops those calls. The technology comes from a voice security company called Hiya. It uses artificial intelligence to spot suspicious calling patterns. Virgin Media O2, the company behind O2, says it is the first UK mobile operator to block all calls identified as suspected scams, rather than just showing a warning. Since the start of 2024, it has used Hiya to flag more than 1.6 billion suspected scam and spam calls.

What testing showed

Scammers did not give up after being blocked. In testing, 60 percent of blocked calls were followed by another attempt within one minute. Numbers identified as fraudulent made three times as many calls after being blocked as before. That suggests blocking alone will not end the problem, but it keeps more of those calls from reaching people.

Who it affects

O2 customers with compatible phones get the protection. There is no app to download, no setting to change and no extra cost. The material does not say which phones count as compatible. O2 will still flag suspected spam calls, so customers can decide whether to answer them.

The need is real. O2's latest Scam Index found that 61 percent of people who met a suspected scam between July and September had received a suspicious phone call. That is up five percentage points from the previous quarter. More than two in five people said they ignore unknown calls or messages because of scam worries. Among people over 55, the figure is nearly six in 10.

What to do

• Keep reporting suspicious calls and texts by forwarding the details to 7726. It is free.
• Expect that some spam calls will still ring, with a warning, because O2 leaves those to you.
• Do not assume every scam call will be caught. The service blocks suspected scams.

O2 also uses a firewall to intercept fraudulent text messages. It says more than 1.4 billion have been blocked so far. Reports sent to 7726 help mobile networks identify and block new scams.

What is not known yet

The material does not explain how the system decides a call is a scam, or what happens if a real call is blocked by mistake. It also does not list the phones that work with it. Those are worth watching as the rollout continues.