decoy

decoy
Website-front-page

Inspiration

Scams and fraud calls are a $50B+ global problem. Victims lose money, time, and confidence every year. Most existing tools such as spam filters and call blockers only stop the call, but they do not waste the scammer’s time. We wanted to flip the script by building something that not only protects users but also actively engages scammers and educates people about how scams work.

What it does

Decoy is an active defense platform against scams. Phone Bot: Engages scammers with realistic AI personas like “Confused Grandma” or “Busy Mom,” wasting their time instead of yours. AI Scam Scanner: Lets users paste suspicious texts or numbers and highlights red flags. Global Scam Tracker: An interactive map that visualizes scams happening worldwide. Travel Scam Alerts: Provides country and city-specific scam tips for travelers.

How we built it

We designed Decoy around the idea of active defense. For the phone bot, we created multiple personas with distinct personalities and quirks that naturally keep scammers engaged. A conversation engine advances through prompts whenever the scammer responds, creating a believable back-and-forth that wastes their time. On the website, we focused on providing value to everyday users. The scam scanner analyzes suspicious messages and highlights red flags in plain language. The global map shows scams happening across regions, helping people see trends and stay aware. Finally, the travel scam alerts section offers practical advice for anyone planning trips, making safety guidance easy to access. Throughout the build, we prioritized safety, believability, and engagement, ensuring Decoy could protect users while educating them at the same time.

Challenges we ran into

Making voices sound convincingly human while keeping latency low. Designing safe personas that never share sensitive information or make promises. Normalizing scam reports from different sources into a consistent format for the map. Keeping the project fun and interactive while also tackling a serious global issue. Accomplishments that we're proud of Building a working phone bot that scammers can stay on the line with for minutes. Launching a website that not only detects scams but also raises awareness through education and visualization. Creating a reusable persona framework so adding new personalities is simple. Combining protection and engagement in a way that makes scam prevention feel approachable.

What we learned

Humanlike AI with quirks and pauses is much more believable than static scripts. Scam prevention tools are more impactful when they are interactive and educational. Technical hurdles like voice latency and data normalization can be overcome by prioritizing user trust and safety. A project can be both fun and socially impactful at the same time.

What's next for decoy

Add more personas and multiple languages to engage scammers globally. Improve the AI scam scanner with more advanced detection models. Allow users to submit scam reports to enrich the global map. Launch a mobile app for scanning and travel alerts. Partner with travel companies, universities, and consumer protection organizations to bring Decoy to a wider audience.

✨ Team CTRL – fooling scammers, so you don’t have to.