EE introduced a monthly subscription offering scam detection services for its mobile subscribers, in an effort to combat millions of spam calls affecting UK customers each year.

Dubbed Scam Guard, the offering will provide “robust protection” for customers’ data and online activities, EE noted in a statement. Pricing starts at £1 per month, and customers will have access to a trio of scam prevention tools.

The bundle features an AI-powered “spam and scam call labelling” developed by specialist Hiya to detect suspicious calls, a monitoring system to notify customers when their personal details appear on the dark web, and free three-month access to antivirus and security tools by US-based software company Norton.

The operator claims Scam Guard “aims to not only educate but eliminate the stress, so that users can both better understand the technology they are using and be safe while using it”.

EE cited research which found 40 per cent of crimes committed in the UK are “fraud based”, with 96 per cent of all mobile phone owners affected by “nuisance calls” on a regular basis.

It also pointed to data from Hiya which revealed 16 per cent of its UK consumers lost an average of £632 to scams in 2023.

In the first half of 2024, EE stated it blocked more than 84 million scam attempts, twice the number in the comparable period of last year.

“EE was a founding member of Stop Scams UK, and part of a cross-industry alliance to share intelligence on scams,” said BT Group policy director Helen Burrows.

She continued: “We also employ security experts and network-level security to safeguard our network and customers from cyber-attacks. This is something we take seriously, and while we already block an impressive number of scams, there is always more that we can do. Scam Guard covers all bases so customers can feel safer on our network.”