EE revealed today that the network has blocked more than 42million spam and scam texts. Since July 2021, EE has introduced an anti-spam filter that prevents messages reaching customers by blocking them from the network. The filter has also identified and terminated over 18,000 scamming SIM cards, reducing even more scam texts at the source.
The anti-spam filter proactively blocks spam text messages by analysing patterns of content as they reach EE’s network, helping to divert smishing messages before reaching customers’ mobiles. The multi-million-pound investment helps prevent the risk of customers falling victim to scam messages and improves network security.
Constantly monitoring and evolving the filter detects and blocks common and emerging scam SMS, like missed delivery and COVID testing scams. The technology scans messages that include links or are being sent to a larger number of recipients.
The new system is also able to identify new scam trends -most recently blocking a message claiming to provide information about local fuel availability triggered by the “Fuel Crisis”.
Chris Howe, Customer Director, EE said:
“It’s incredible to think over 42million texts have already been blocked. Despite this being a real sign of progress, we’d still urge our customers to be on their guard when it comes to receiving suspicious text messages.
If something doesn’t look right, don’t click on any links and you can always report any SMS you think is suspicious to 7726.”
EE’s top tips to avoid scams
- Remember:
- take a moment to stop and think and trust your instincts. If it looks too good to be true or looks suspicious, there’s probably a catch
- don’t click on links unless you’re 100% sure they are genuine
- don’t give away any of your personal details or give anyone access to your computer – if you think you might have provided your bank account details, contact your bank immediately
- What to do if you receive a suspicious message:
- forward a text message (including phone number or company name) to 7726, free of charge, so your mobile phone provider can investigate
- delete messages after reporting them
- make others aware of these types of messages, so they are also in the know
EE’s anti-spam filter works like a firewall to review SMS using AI and manually input blocking rules to decide if these are legitimate or need to be blocked. The filter uses data from sender details, content of the message including links, patterns in SMS and the volume of SMS sent from a particular number to discover and stop scam SMS.
As scammers continue to develop new SMS scams, and increasingly sophisticated SMS scams EE is working as part of a cross-industry alliance against scams, with Ofcom, ICO, National Cyber Security Centre and other mobile providers.
EE works in collaboration to share data and intelligence to beat the scammers, to compliment the cross-industry reporting service 7726.
New digital booklets have been created and EE customers can access these by texting “SCAM” to 150. They can also be viewed online here by anyone.
