Grandma fights phone criminals - 17th February 2025

In 2024 over $1.03 trillion dollars were stolen by scammers. Scammers often phone old people to trick them into giving money. But now Daisy, a 78-year-old English grandmother, has joined the fight.

In fact, Daisy isn't a real grandma. She's an AI creation from Virgin Media O2, the telecommunications company. To help stop the criminals, Daisy's phone number was placed on lists that scammers often use. And she's been a big success as she's taken over 1,000 calls. Few scammers realise she isn't real. Many stay on the telephone for over 40 minutes as they try to get Daisy to follow their instructions. The grandmother chats about her cat Fluffy, her love of baking and her lack of computer knowledge.

Time is important for scammers so they often get annoyed. They're only interested in Daisy's bank details, not her conversation. If they become angry, it's a sign they're scammers.

Wasting scammers' time is one of the goals of this AI bot. But Daisy also shows us the techniques which scammers use. And this might help companies to fight criminals in the future.