Anti-Scam Bodyguard

Empowering the Elderly to help them learn how to spot and stop digital scams with the help of "Max" the AI Butler. Earn points, climb leader boards, and outsmart scammers with your digital guardian.

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The Incident

During a family summer vacation in my pre-teenage years, a single phone call disrupted our peace. A scammer, posing as a bank official, claimed my father’s account had been blocked. At the time long before high digital literacy and internet penetration became the norm in India my father, like many others, fell victim to the ruse.

Looking back on that moment today, I see it as more than just a family anecdote; it was a symptom of a massive, systemic vulnerability. It highlighted a painful reality: those who worked the hardest for their financial security are often the most targeted.

What it does

Anti-Scam Bodyguard is a gamified educational platform designed to train users in identifying phishing, smishing, and other common cyber-scams. Users interact with a living AI mascot, Max, who guides them through 15 real-world scenarios per session, rewarding correct deductions with points and rankings on a global leaderboard

  • Interactive Game Loop: 15-question sessions with real-time feedback.
  • AI-Powered expansion: Admin-generated scenarios using Google Gemini 1.5 Flash.
  • Living Mascot: Animated Butler with "Typewriter" speech effects and dynamic name-tag system.
  • Secure Sandbox: Practice identifying scams without any real-world risk.
  • Admin Portal: Manage users, track stats, and expand the scenario library with one click.
  • Leaderboard: Compete with others to become the ultimate Scam Guard.

How we built it

The TechStack we used

  • Frontend: React (Vite), Vanilla CSS, Framer Motion.
  • Backend: Node.js, Express, Bun.
  • Database: MongoDB.
  • AI Integration: Google AI Studio (Gemini API).

Challenges we ran into

The main problem I ran into was to design the website in such a way that it is fun and comfortable to the elderly I had though of many things like TTS and STT but in the end I decided to gamify the entire web app inside a mobile phone to simulate the scam notification

Accomplishments that we're proud of

As a 1st year college student being able make a fullstack web app that is something I am proud of other than that I have experimented with my neighbors and unsurprisingly they got more confident in identifying scam calls and texts

What we learned

Aside from learning MERN stack, I have discovered technology can be both a harbinger of sorrow or a saint of affection it depends on us programmers what we choose to do with it.

What's next for Anti-Scam Bodyguard

I would be delighted to work on it with some contributors

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