Inspiration

With AI and its users increasing in power deepfaking voices of loved ones to scam vulnerable people, especially the elderly, has become increasingly prevalent.

What it does

My volunteering aims to spread the knowledge of “duress words”. A duress word is a random word known by your close friends and families to use when contacting them in an emergency, allowing for easy detection of scammers.

How I built it

It began by word of mouth but I began putting educational videos and tutorials on YouTube to make it a more accessible idea

Challenges I ran into

A lot of elderly people are hesitant to ask for this sort of guidance though fear of not being able to manage aspects of the task, such as forgetting the duress word, and at first many people thought I was trying to scam them myself.

Accomplishments that I’m proud of

I’ve reached over 100 elderly people and hopefully contributed to a safer tomorrow

What we learned

We learned that just ten minutes of your time and a small portion of patience can be all it takes to secure our most vulnerable people.

What's next for Duress Code volunteering

One day I would like Duress to be an in person service, as many elderly people even find Skype or zoom calls intimidating.

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