Inspiration

A mother's son has just been detained by ICE. Within days, someone offers to "fix" his case for $7,500. She doesn't know if this person is a real lawyer, if the price is fair, or if she's about to lose money her family can't afford to lose.

This is one of the most common ways immigrant families get hurt. Scammers use the confusion, and families lose money, miss deadlines, and sometimes end up in worse legal trouble than before.

The pressure is getting worse. In August 2026, only 1 in 4 immigrants had a lawyer when a deportation order was issued, and more than 65,000 people are held in ICE detention. When real help is scarce and the stakes are this high, fake help finds an easy market.

CasoClaro ("clear case") is built for that mother, in that moment, before she pays.

What it does

CasoClaro helps families track an immigration case and avoid being scammed while getting help with it. Our main flow:

Describe the offer. The mother enters who is offering help, what they're promising, and what they're charging, or uploads a photo of the contract or receipt.
Check who they are. CasoClaro walks her through verifying that the person is either a licensed attorney (through the state bar) or a DOJ-accredited representative, and whether they appear on the government's list of disciplined immigration practitioners.
Spot the red flags. The app flags warning signs, like a guaranteed outcome, a "notario" title, cash-only payment, no written contract, pressure to pay today, or a request to sign blank forms.
Know what to do next. She gets a clear, personalized checklist: questions to ask before paying, what a fair written agreement should include, and where to find free or low-cost legal aid nearby.
Make payments safely. CasoClaro provides the option to pay thorough our system, so she can know what she's paying for and feel confident that her money is going into the right hands.

CasoClaro helps individuals and families get clarity, find real legal help, and avoid scams.

How we built it

We built CasoClaro end to end on Base44:

Built-in auth, so a family's case and documents are visible only to their own account.
AI integrations that read an uploaded contract or receipt, compare the offer against known fraud patterns, and explain the results in plain Spanish or English.
Base44 hosting, so the app is live at a public link.

Challenges we ran into

Learning a new platform in one day. None of us had used Base44 before this morning.
Warning without accusing. We had to flag risk clearly without labeling a specific person a scammer. CasoClaro points out warning signs and shows how to verify, and leaves the conclusion to the family.

What we learned

The most dangerous moment in a family's case is often the first payment.
Base44 let us go from idea to a live app in hours, so we could spend our time on the user.

What's next

Live credential checks against state bar and DOJ accreditation records
Text and WhatsApp alerts (Twilio) and voice explanations (ElevenLabs) for people who don't read comfortably
One-tap reporting of suspected fraud, and referrals to partner legal aid clinics