New Delhi, India: British telecom firm Virgin Media O2 has unveiled Daisy, a custom-designed AI chatbot created to combat phone scammers by keeping them on the line for as long as possible. This initiative comes in response to a study by Strand Partners, which revealed that one in five Britons face scam attempts weekly.
Daisy is no ordinary chatbot. Designed to mimic the persona of an elderly British grandmother, she capitalizes on fraudsters’ biases about elderly victims—who are often targeted for their perceived vulnerability.
Modeled after a real-life relative of a VCCP team member, Daisy’s charm and wit make her the quintessential “scambaiter.” Unlike human victims, Daisy has endless patience and no need for breaks, allowing her to engage scammers in hours-long pointless conversations, leaving them frustrated and unsuccessful.
Daisy was recently named O2’s “Head of Scammer Relations,” a tongue-in-cheek title that highlights her role in keeping fraudsters occupied. Her persona, crafted by the London creative agency VCCP Faith, combines natural language processing and a custom AI language model to deliver convincingly human and hilariously irrelevant responses.
“While they’re busy talking to me, they can’t be scamming you. And let’s face it, dear, I’ve got all the time in the world,” Daisy quips in an O2 promotional video.
Daisy processes callers’ speech in real-time, converts it to text, and responds with AI-generated replies that embody her charming, grandmotherly persona. Whether it’s chatting about her imaginary kitten Fluffy, reminiscing about her love of knitting, or providing bogus bank account details, Daisy keeps scammers engaged with long, unproductive conversations.
In one recorded interaction, a frustrated scammer, after nearly an hour of futile dialogue, exclaims, “It’s almost been an hour, for the love of [expletive]!” Daisy, unfazed, cheerily responds, “Gosh, how time flies.”
Another scammer is subjected to an exhaustive discussion about Daisy’s imaginary family and hobbies, keeping them from targeting real victims.
Virgin Media O2 has actively distributed Daisy’s dedicated phone number to known fraudsters’ contact lists. The initiative aims to disrupt scam operations while raising public awareness about the tactics scammers use. O2 emphasizes that by tricking fraudsters into thinking Daisy is a real person, the AI chatbot not only wastes their time but also highlights the importance of vigilance against scams.
“Daisy has stopped scammers from targeting actual victims and, more importantly, has exposed their common tactics so customers can better protect themselves,” an O2 spokesperson said.
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