Vodafone will now block scam calls before they even hit your phone

At some point we've all received a nuisance call encouraging us to claim PPI or informing us about a recent car accident we're suddenly worried we've repressed, but thanks to new barring technology, Vodafone UK customers won't have to deal with this annoyance quite as much.

The new technology installed across Vodafone's mobile network allows the company to block scam calls on a mass scale, stopping them at the source so that the customer never has to deal with them at all.

Previously, Vodafone was able to stop its customers accidentally returning missed calls to fake numbers but now its customers won't have to receive the call in the first place.

Just sit back and let the calls not come in

That's not to say absolutely no nuisance calls will come through – inevitably some will slip through the net – but Vodafone says it will significantly reduce the volume of fraudulent calls on its network.

When testing the new system, Vodafone was able to block more than 425,000 nuisance and scam calls in a single day. Over that week, the company found that the number of scam call attempts against Vodafone customers had dropped to under 1,000 as scammers realised their calls were not able to enter the Vodafone network.

Mark Hughes, Head of Corporate Security for Vodafone UK, said: "The protection of our customers is paramount and we have been investing heavily in our network and technology to help stamp out this practice. We will continue to evolve the technology as well as work with industry bodies and the regulator to ensure we keep one step ahead of criminals."

This isn't the only step Vodafone has taken to protect its customers from unwanted calls, also running a nuisance call bureau which works with customers to prevent more serious harassing and threatening calls.

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