Bell's AI call blocking stops over a billion fraud calls in Canada

Bell Canada reported to the CRTC that its AI-assisted system blocked 1,120,372,443 calls in 15 months. The CRTC judged the risk of wrongful blocking extremely low and made the blocking permanent.

  • 2 for society

    Bell reported more than 1.1 billion blocked calls in 15 months, and the CRTC noted that fraud complaints had fallen, but no measure of losses avoided is reported.

Depth runs from 1, a convenience or time saved, to 5, a life or a livelihood preserved.

Status
Reported benefit.
Evidence

foundstudiedreportedclaimed

An independent regulatory document supports the benefit.

Compared with

Complaints about fraudulent calls received by Bell and the CRTC before the trial began. Measured.

The system’s part
Not isolated. The CRTC says that the system uses artificial intelligence to flag anomalies in traffic, which are reviewed before related calls are blocked. It credits the whole mechanism and does not separate the AI's share or compare blocking without it. Bell states on its own site that the system combines artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms.
Later
Persisted, 29 September 2022. The CRTC's chairperson told the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology that, including the trial, Bell's system had blocked more than 1.5 billion calls.
Not yet checked
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Benefit type
Reduced Risk
System
Bell Canada's network-level call-blocking system for fraudulent and scam voice calls (AI anomaly flagging with review)
Made by
Bell Canada
Used by
Bell Canada and its affiliates (Bell Canada et al.)
Where
Canada
Stage
In routine use
Date
, when the source was published
Kind
Aggregate result
Broad benefit
Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings, Analyzing Data or Information
Collections
Scrutiny and findings
Last revised
1 November 2026

Sources

  1. Regulatory document, by authors with no tie to the system.

    Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. Compliance and Enforcement and Telecom Decision CRTC 2021-403: Bell Canada - Application to allow Bell Canada and its affiliates to block certain fraudulent and scam voice calls on a permanent basis. Ottawa, 9 December 2021. Archived copy of https://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2021/2021-403.htm.

    The Commission considers that the fact that the call-blocking mechanism has successfully blocked over one billion fraudulent calls with no confirmed false positives constitutes significant evidence of the capability of Bell Canada et al.’s call-blocking system to serve the public good
    Based on the reports filed with the Commission, Bell Canada et al.’s call-blocking system successfully blocked 1,120,372,443 calls since it became operational on 15 July 2020 until the end of the 16th reporting period on 16 October 2021.
    Moreover, the significant reduction in the number of complaints regarding fraudulent calls received by Bell Canada et al. and the Commission since the beginning of the trial serves as another indicator of the positive results of Bell Canada et al.’s call-blocking system.

  2. Descriptive report, by authors with no tie to the system.

    Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. Ian Scott, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, to the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology (fraudulent calls), speaking notes, 29 September 2022. The figure comes from Bell's reporting to the CRTC. Archived copy of the canada.ca page.

    Encouraged by the results of a 15-month trial conducted by Bell, we approved its application to implement this technology on a permanent basis in December 2021. To date, including the trial period, more than 1.5 billion calls have been successfully intercepted in Bell’s network and blocked.

  3. Other, by the makers.

    Bell Canada. How does Bell protect my business from fraudulent calls? Bell Business support page (business.bell.ca). Accessed 1 November 2026.

    Available only from Bell, our call-blocking technology combines artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms to analyze every call originating, terminating, or transiting through the Bell network. Calling numbers that are performing fraudulent activity are blocked. Since our national trial began in 2020, we have blocked more than 6.6 billion fraudulent and abusive calls.

Details

AI system

Workflow

The system analyzed every voice call that originated on, ended on or passed through Bell's networks. Anomalies flagged by the AI were reviewed, and calls tied to verified fraud were blocked at the network level. Bell could refine the algorithm to detect more fraud and adapt to fraudsters' changing behavior.

Follow-up

Conditions for replication

Bell must report on each complaint of a wrongly blocked number within two business days. Data used to detect fraud may serve no other purpose. Bell must tell the CRTC of any change to the AI system within 60 days.

Entry details

Sector

Telecommunications / fraud prevention.

Purpose

Bell Canada built its call-blocking system to detect fraudulent and scam voice calls on its networks and block them before they reach Canadians.

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Cite this record

Peter H. Vartanian. (2026). Bell's AI call blocking stops over a billion fraud calls in Canada (AIBD-0999). Artificial Intelligence Benefits Database, edition of 1 November 2026. https://petervartanian.xyz/aibd/records/AIBD-0999.html (archived at https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/AADSII, version 7.0)

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