SecurePay

Inspiration

We were inspired by the countless everyday heroes in Africa: the informal traders who wake up at dawn to make a living, the people with no financial literacy, and the elders who rely on pensions to survive. Many of them have been tricked by fake SMS or WhatsApp payment scams, losing their hard-earned money in seconds. We realized: tech shouldn’t only serve the digitally literate, it must protect the vulnerable too.

What it does

SecurePay is a simple, community-focused tool designed to help South Africans—especially pensioners and informal trader, spot scams and stay protected during mobile payments. Users can copy and paste any suspicious SMS, WhatsApp message, or proof-of-payment into our site. SecurePay scans it for red flags like fake URLs, impersonation tactics, or payment inconsistencies, then gives a clear response: “Real” or “Scam.” We also added a Trusted Contact Alert feature, so if someone isn’t sure, they can quickly send the message to a friend or family member for a second opinion—without exposing their whole chat history. For informal traders, we’ve built a secure payment verification tool to help them confirm if a buyer has genuinely paid or not, especially when customers use instant EFTs or send fake confirmation slips. To empower users further, we’ve created an Education Hub that includes easy-to-follow guides on how to recognize common scams, verify payments, and protect your money, all using everyday examples.

SecurePay doesn’t just respond to scams, it equips people to avoid them altogether.

How we built it

We will be using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build the static front-end of SecurePay, focusing on clarity and accessibility for users who may not be tech-savvy. We integrated text recognition logic to flag common scam patterns in pasted messages and designed a clean, mobile-friendly UI that works even on low-end devices. Our system uses simple APIs for location-based features and simulates how payment verification would function for informal traders.