TrustLens

Inspiration

We noticed large the amount of fake and fraudulent Job and scholarships listings on different platforms that exploit the aspirations and dreams of people. What should be a smooth and frictionless application journey has now become stressful and unreliable, we thought to ourselves, "how do we solve this ?"

What it does

It is a verification tool where a student pastes a job, internship, or scholarship link into the tool and immediately receives a risk report generated from text analysis and red-flag detection.

How we built it (Research and Design)

1. Analyzed the Problem: We researched how fraudulent syndicates operate, using reports like Echoes of Deception to understand exactly how they target students.

2. Defined the "Red Flags": We created a list of specific warning signs for our system to detect, such as urgency cues, upfront fees, and Telegram-only contacts.

3. Designed the MVP: We mapped out a simple web app where a user pastes a link and receives an instant "Green, Yellow, or Red" safety rating.

4. Ensured Privacy: We designed the system to look only at the job advertisement, ensuring no personal data from the student is ever collected.

5. Brainstorming: We used ChatGPT to help refine our ideas and features during the planning phase.

Challenges we ran into

During the Design phase we identified various problems that might be faced during development of the tool.

1. The issue of accuracy
2. The evolving nature of scam tactics
3. User might assume that the tool is 100% accurate

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud about this because we have been able to propose a unique solution to a problem that affects every student.

What we learned

During the research phase we realised just how alarmingly high the percentage of ghost postings on scholarships and Job platforms actually is. This made us realise how deeply this problems goes and how these are not just random acts but organised and delicately planned operations that target the vulnerable.

What's next for TrustLens

1. Build a list of red-flag heuristics such as keywords, domain and email checks, job type checks.
2. Development of a web extension to ease use accessibility and service.
3. Add educational content for each type of common red flags, providing detailed explanation and advice.
4. Localize content by including context-specific scam patterns for regions.
5. Build a community reporting and feedback feature, a small backend database

Built With

• chatgpt