EE launches Mind Your Manners etiquette guide

EE partnered with Debrett’s and Margie Keefe, known as Grime Gran, to launch Mind Your Manners, a modern etiquette guide aimed at helping Brits spot and shut down scam calls, texts and messages over the Christmas period.

EE flagged one million scam calls every day and blocked three million scam attempts across its network each day; it also stopped hundreds of millions of malicious texts, emails and unsafe websites year-round.

Scam Guard labeled and filtered suspicious calls as they arrived, giving customers an option to ignore them before answering. The tool operated in real time across EE’s network.

Over the last 12 months, the Group’s team of more than 3,000 security professionals blocked 1.6 billion attempts to access malicious domains, stopped 200 million scam Service Mesh Security (SMS) messages, blocked 61 million scam calls and flagged 175 million nuisance and fraud calls; those actions used Machine Learning (ML) and network-level threat analysis to monitor call, SMS and web patterns.

Debrett’s helped shape and endorse the guide so etiquette aligned with digital behaviour, while Grime Gran supplied blunt, direct messaging. The guidance recommended politely ending unexpected calls and calling back on a trusted number, pausing before replying to texts or emails, keeping passwords, PINs, verification codes and mobile numbers private, avoiding rushed decisions, and forwarding suspicious texts to 7726, blocking senders and encouraging device updates.

“Today, good manners include knowing how to stop a suspicious call or report a strange text. We’re proud to endorse this guidance – protecting yourself is not impolite, it’s entirely proper.” said Rupert Wesson, Director at Debrett’s. EE said it worked with industry and government bodies, including initiatives aligned with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).