The new technology, which was launched today (21 September), means Vodafone can hundreds of thousands of calls, such as false PPI offers, missed call scams, or expensive numbers offering bogus prizes, before they ever reach its customers.
The customer does not need to do anything and the system works discreetly, meaning they will not be made aware that the nuisance call has been blocked.
The operator admitted that customers may still receive some unwanted calls, but said it now has the ability to dramatically decrease the volume of nuisance calls terminating on its network. During tests, it was able to block more than 425,000 nuisance or scam calls in a day, seeing the number of attempts drop to under a thousand as perpetrators realised calls could not enter Vodafone’s network.
Head of Corporate Security for Vodafone UK, Mark Hughes said: “Fraudulent calls are a scourge on society, inflicting great anxiety for victims. The protection of our customers is paramount and we have been investing heavily in our network and technology to help stamp out this practice. We will continue to evolve the technology as well as work with industry bodies and the regulator to ensure we keep one step ahead of criminals.”
Vodafone said it is only currently introducing the technology to its UK network, but said it does share intelligence across the Group where appropriate.