**Scammers, Take Note: A New AI Grandma is Here to Occupy You**
Scammers, be cautious! There’s a new AI created to keep you chatting on the line for an extended period—and it mimics a proud grandmother perfectly.
The UK telecom company Virgin Media O2 has unveiled “Daisy,” an AI-driven call answering service specifically developed to engage scam callers in protracted conversations, thereby diminishing the time they have to approach genuine victims. This idea is akin to previous time-wasting bots we’ve encountered, and it mirrors tactics used by scam-fighting figures like James Veitch, renowned for his *Scamalot* series.
Virgin Media O2 partnered with YouTuber Jim Browning, a prominent scam-fighter who has uncovered numerous fraudulent schemes through various means, to create Daisy.
### How Daisy Functions
Described by the company as the “director of scammer relations,” Daisy is programmed to narrate lengthy tales to scam callers. While the details may echo stereotypical depictions of elderly women, the intention is to trick scammers into thinking they’re conversing with a real individual. According to O2, Daisy has recounted meandering stories about her family, her passion for knitting, and even supplied fabricated personal information, such as fictitious bank details. The company asserts that Daisy has successfully retained scammers on the line for as much as 40 minutes.
Daisy operates by utilizing multiple AI models that listen to the caller and transcribe the dialogue in real-time. The system then formulates a response based on its language model, which is delivered in a human-like voice infused with Daisy’s distinctive personality.
### Why an Older Voice?
The choice to give Daisy the voice of an elderly woman is deliberate. In the UK, older adults, especially those over 75, are often targets of phone scams. Research indicates that a considerable number of these scams are executed via phone calls. This issue extends beyond the UK—data from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reveals that impersonation scams in the U.S. resulted in losses exceeding $1.3 billion in 2023, with nearly half of the victims being over 60 years old.
Scammers commonly employ social engineering techniques to coerce victims into disclosing sensitive personal information, such as banking details or social security numbers. By having an AI like Daisy interact with scammers, there’s no risk of losing real money, providing a clever method to combat fraud.
### Can You Access Daisy?
Regrettably, Daisy isn’t accessible for public use—unless you’re a scammer. When inquired for more information, an O2 representative clarified that Daisy was explicitly crafted to engage with scammers and enhance public comprehension regarding the hazards of scam calls. Making the tool available to everyone would necessitate substantial computing resources, so for now, Daisy remains dedicated solely to preventing scams.
If a scammer manages to reach you instead of Daisy, O2 advises customers to forward suspected scam calls and text messages to their existing blocking service by texting 7726.
### Standing Up Against Scammers
Scammers are perpetually devising new and inventive schemes to defraud individuals, so companies must think equally creatively to thwart them. While Daisy represents a step forward, the battle against fraud is far from finished.
In the meantime, take a moment to call your real grandma—and don’t dismiss her stories as “waffle.” After all, she’s not an AI bot or Abe Simpson.