Mobile operator O2 (Virgin Media) launched a “human-like” AI (Artificial Intelligence) ‘Granny’ called Daisy in November last year (here), which was designed to answer calls in real-time from fraudsters and keep them busy (away from customers) for as long as possible. Since then, the bot has chatted with over 1,000 scam callers, and it’s learnt a few things.
Fraudsters will often robotically call masses of mobile and home phone numbers, but they usually only commit any actual human resources toward the tiny minority of people who might actually fall for one of their scams. Suffice to say that if you can waste the time of those human scammers, then that’s another actual human who they won’t be able to engage while their time is being wasted. This is how Daisy is supposed to work.
So far, the AI scambaiter is said to have “wasted hundreds of hours of scammers time“, including by keeping them tied up in meandering conversations on the sport of cricket and her lemon meringue pie recipe, while giving them just enough fake personal information to keep them on the phone line.
The bot is said to have been so effective that it’s even kept “numerous fraudsters” on calls for 40 minutes at a time. O2 has today also revealed some of the other things they’ve learnt from Daisy’s deployment, although few of these learnings will come as a particular surprise.
What did Daisy learn?
1. Most scammers work in call centres using scripts
Scamming people is a full-time job, and fraudsters are operating from call centres specifically set up to target victims. On multiple occasions, Daisy heard the same well-rehearsed lines from different scammers. Fraudsters even began to recognise her, indicating they’re operating together and sharing knowledge of their triumphs and failures.
One of the most common scams saw Daisy be offered a very cheap deal on iPhone 13 as a ruse to trick Daisy into sharing personal details. Whilst scammers often thought they knew who they were speaking with, in cases where they didn’t, they were quick to change tactics to keep the call going, demonstrating the professional nature of their operation.
In one instance, Daisy was passed to four different fraudsters in one single call. If one scammer wasn’t having any luck, Daisy would often be passed over to a ‘supervisor’ who would attempt to escalate the call, making it appear to be more genuine and urgent.
2. Scammers impersonate trusted companies and use high-pressure tactics
Daisy repeatedly heard scammers claiming to be from banks, well-known organisations like Amazon and Microsoft, delivery companies and the government. This is a way for scammers to cast their net as wide as possible, using some of the most trusted companies that consumers deal with regularly.
Once the fraudsters believed Daisy trusted that they were who they said they were, scammers often employed high-pressure tactics – including threatening the imminent loss of money, claiming there’s been a hacker on Daisy’s computer or even threatening legal action.
3. Unlike real employees, scammers will get frustrated and angry if they’re not getting what they want
Scam callers would typically start off friendly and personable in tone but the longer they spent on the phone they’d quickly begin to switch and show their true colours.
Daisy might not actually be a real person – but the scammers don’t know that. From clearly showing signs of frustration if she struggled to follow the instructions or yelling at her for going off on a tangent about her cat, Daisy frequently experienced rude and aggressive behaviour. This was particularly clear when Daisy was not doing as they wanted.
People can of course continue to help block scammers by forwarding suspected scam calls and text messages to 7726 (i.e. those that get through the filters used by many mobile, broadband and phone providers). Generally, if a call seems suspicious (are they pressuring you for personal data, bank details or to install a piece of software), then simply put the phone down and call back later on a trusted number to verify the call.