TalkTalk Telecom : continues to Beat the Scammers with improved call features

• Caller display will be switched on for all customers free of charge
• Customers can now block up to 100 numbers through their handset
• Customers will save up to £180 vs BT over 12 months
• Provider blocked more than 100 million scam calls last month

Thursday 20th July - TalkTalk is today announcing improvements to its call features to further protect customers from nuisance and scam calls.

TalkTalk customers can now block ten times as many numbers via its Last Caller Barring service, which has been activated for all customers as standard. After a nuisance call, users can dial 14258 (or 1HALT for ease) to block up to 100 numbers. Customers can also report scam calls to TalkTalk directly through their handset by pressing 1 after it has been blocked. Caller Display has also been activated for all customers this month, allowing everyone to see who is calling before picking up the phone.

Whilst other providers will often charge for such added value features, TalkTalk remains committed to making these improvements at no extra cost to customers, saving them up to £180 a year vs BT, Sky and Virgin Media.

Donna Moore, Head of Scam Prevention at TalkTalk said: 'Scammers are constantly updating their techniques, so we are committed to evolve our call features to protect our customers. Unfortunately phone scams are a serious and growing problem affecting UK business and customers and we are determined to beat the scammers and provide these features at no extra cost.'

As the first UK telecoms provider to block nuisance calls at a network level, TalkTalk continues to combat the industry-wide issue and blocked over 100 million scam and nuisance calls before the phone even rings in the last month alone.

One million customers have also taken up TalkTalk's innovative TalkSafe service after it became the first UK telecoms provider to roll out voice biometric technology. Since its launch in 2016, TalkSafe has reduced customer verification time by 80 per cent to just 12 seconds, improving the efficiency of the customer service experience while providing one of the most secure forms of identification.

Today's announcement is just the latest example of TalkTalk's long-term commitment to protecting its customers from the industry-wide problem of scam and nuisance calls. Back in 2016, following research that showed almost half of Britons (42%) said they wouldn't be able to spot a scam and a further one in five (20%)* didn't know what to do in the heat of the moment, TalkTalk launched Beat the Scammers a nationwide campaign to help people better protect themselves against the growing threat of online and telephone scams. TalkTalk was also the first Telecoms provider to produce a series of NEVERS, a set of specific guidelines outlining information it will never ask customers for.

For more information visit: talktalk.co.uk/beatthescammers