AUDIO: “GRANDMA” CHATBOT FIGHTS BACK AGAINST PHONE SCAMMERS
Do you ever wish you could get back at phone scammers? Now you can. O2, a mobile network operator in the UK, has invented an AI chatbot to suck phone scammers into long meandering conversations. Called Daisy, the chatbot mimics the voice of an elderly woman, the most common target for phone scammers. When a scammer gets Daisy on the phone, the chatbot begins a long conversation that responds like a real person, but doesn’t go anywhere. If they do reach the point where the scammer asks for personal information, like bank details, Daisy will make up fake information. The purpose is to intentionally waste phone scammers’ time to keep them away from potential real victims as long as possible. O2 says they have attached the Daisy chatbot to “easy target” phone lists – elderly people who live alone – that scammers use for leads.
* They must have gotten the idea from my mother. I can’t get her off the phone.
* Don’t let Daisy make outgoing calls, or she’ll use DoorDash to order takeout from Denny’s.
* If you need the scammer to hang up so you can use the phone, Daisy will start asking them things like “What are you wearing?”
* Gotta admit, this is much easier and cheaper and than tracking the scammers down and arresting them.
CLIP: This is audio of “Daisy” in action with some actual scammers. Although the clips are too short to really appreciate what it does, you can get an idea of what it sounds like.
