Bell Canada launching AI-powered system to flag spam calls

Bell has introduced an AI-powered model to detect and protect against spoofed calls.

The company says it's the first carrier in Canada to offer this functionality. Spoofed calls are a common technique employed by scammers in which VoIP (Voice over IP) is used to change caller ID information, helping them pose as representatives from organizations, businesses, and others.

With its new AI model, Bell says its network can identify suspicious spoofing activity in real time. This builds on the company's existing Suspicious Call Detection tech, which it says has already analyzed 4.4 billion calls and blocked or labelled over 540 million suspicious or fraudulent calls. Now, it expects the AI-powered tool to help prevent millions of additional deceptive calls from reaching customers.

AI Suspicious Call Detection is rolling out now to customers on iOS and Android across Bell, Virgin Plus, Lucky Mobile, PC Mobile, No Name and Maxi. Bell says this change will happen automatically with no opt-in required.

It should be noted that other Canadian carriers offer similar tools. Rogers' equivalent is called Spam Call Detect, while Telus has Call Control. However, Bell says it's the first Canadian carrier to use AI identify and flag spoofed calls.