According to Financial Times News, major UK mobile networks including BT EE, Vodafone, Three and Virgin Media O2 have jointly committed to upgrade their networks to block “number spoofing” within the next year. They’re deploying AI to identify and block suspicious calls and texts as part of a new telecoms charter with the government. The crackdown comes as fraud accounts for over 40% of all reported crime in the UK, with 17% of fraud cases enabled by telecommunications. Criminals defrauded UK consumers out of £629 million in just the first half of 2025, according to banking trade body UK Finance. The government aims to make the UK “the hardest place in the world for scammers to operate” according to Lord Hanson, minister for fraud.
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Why this matters now
Here’s the thing – this problem has been brewing for years. Ofcom has been pushing mobile operators to fix this for three years, and the UK’s telephone network is apparently so outdated that criminals can easily fool the system. Basically, our current tech makes it simple for overseas call centers to appear as legitimate UK numbers from banks or police. And since 96% of mobile users decide whether to answer based on the number displayed, spoofing gives scammers instant credibility.
The human cost
Nick Stapleton from BBC’s Scam Interceptors makes a brutal point – why will this take up to a year to implement? “A lot of money will be lost in that time,” he says, adding that if telecoms were really serious, they could “pull the trigger on this tomorrow.” He’s right to call out the delay. Sure, new fraud reimbursement rules mean most victims get their money back, but what about the psychological harm and trauma? That doesn’t get reimbursed. These aren’t just statistics – these are people’s lives being disrupted by sophisticated criminals.
AI’s double-edged sword
There’s some irony here. The same article notes that AI is increasingly being used to create convincing “deepfake” videos for high-value investment and romance scams. So we’re using AI to fight AI-powered crime. But there’s good news too – UK banks prevented a further £682 million of fraud in the same period using AI to scan real-time payments. That’s the highest figure ever reported. So the technology clearly works when deployed properly.
What comes next
The upgrade to 5G technology should make it clear when calls originate from abroad, which would solve a big part of the problem. But I can’t help wondering – why has it taken this long? With £629 million lost in just six months, the economic case for faster action seems obvious. The networks are finally moving, but the question remains: how many more people will get scammed while we wait for these protections to roll out?
