Virgin Media O2 has announced a partnership with voice security leader Hiya to provide AI-powered spam fighting tools and enhanced caller identification services to all its mobile customers — free of charge. This move aims to fortify customer protection against fraudulent activities.
The rollout of the Hiya Protect service to all consumer customers will leverage Adaptive AI technology to analyze call number behavior. This analysis enables the system to identify and flag suspected spam calls or block fraudulent ones before they reach customers’ phones, effectively thwarting potential threats even before a ring occurs.
Additionally, Virgin Media O2 will introduce Hiya’s advanced caller identification service, Hiya Connect. This feature will empower companies to enhance their calls with identity information, including their company name, logo, call purpose, and location. This initiative aims to instill greater confidence in customers by providing transparency about incoming calls, thereby increasing the likelihood of call answer rates.
This announcement underscores Virgin Media O2’s commitment to customer safety, bolstered by investments in fraud prevention measures. These new tools and services will complement existing fraud protection measures, such as AI-powered spam text detection, which prevented over 89 million fraudulent texts from reaching customers in 2023 alone.
Murray Mackenzie, Director of Fraud at Virgin Media O2, highlighted the partnership with Hiya as a significant step in enhancing existing security measures and providing customers with added protection against spam and fraudsters.
Kush Parikh, President of Hiya, emphasized Hiya’s commitment to restoring confidence in voice calling by collaborating with industry leaders like Virgin Media O2.
Phone spam and fraud pose persistent challenges for telecommunications carriers globally. In the UK, a recent study by Hiya revealed that 28 percent of unknown calls were spam, with nearly 10 percent classified as fraud calls.
Virgin Media O2 urges all mobile customers to remain vigilant and report suspicious texts by forwarding them to 7726 free of charge.
