Advik Atyam lost all of his birthday money to a payment scam as an eighth grader. This served as a catalyst for learning more about scams, and in 2021, the Fairfax County student created a scam prevention platform, alongside classmates David Nam and Yousif Al Atbi.
Designed to spread scam awareness and prevention, ScamCops features artificial intelligence and resources to help protect family and friends from this growing global problem. Atyam, Nam, and al Atbi originally created ScamCops as a blog that evolved into a website, which then progressed into a nonprofit organization with outreach to retirement homes. In May, the three rising seniors at Fairfax High School won the 2024 Fairfax Area Student Shark Tank Technology Challenge.
“It’s gotten to the point where scammers are so good that they can manipulate anyone. As long as you’re not looking at the minute details, you could be a victim of a scam,” Atyam says.
ScamCops features an AI chatbot that identifies scams described by users and answers questions within 30 seconds. The website also includes a scam awareness guide, a 25-question multiple choice scam quiz, blog posts, and a course for volunteers to learn about the most recent scams in their area.
Although the platform specifically targets senior citizens, ScamCops is available and accessible to everyone. With active users across 36 countries, the three students continue to update the website to reflect the latest AI technology.
“We really want to stress that the best way to prevent being scammed is to be educated beforehand. As long as our users stay informed and stay up to date on different scams, they’re much less likely to be scammed,” Al Atbi says.
As the founder and president, Atyam developed ScamCops and its resources. Al Atbi heads the research to discover new scams and update blog posts. Nam oversees social media management and outreach with student volunteers.
By building a “Cops” network, high schoolers visit five retirement homes in Fairfax County to share scam prevention strategies and technological advice. Nam says the volunteers have impacted 50 to 100 senior citizens through direct one-on-one conversation. The outreach is something the teens plan to continue at additional retirement homes and even at banks.
“Talking to veterans and elderly people — they’re really nice and they don’t deserve any of the hatred and maliciousness that these actors present,” Nam says. “It’s just so cruel for these hackers and scammers to be doing this.”
Atyam shares how there is a misconception that only senior citizens fall victim to scams, when in fact everyone is at risk — even the most tech savvy. In 2023, people filed 2.6 million fraud reports and reported losing more than $10 billion to scammers, according to the Federal Trade Commission. In 2022, they lost $9 billion.
“If we’re able to help just one person with ScamCops, then we’ve done our job,” Atyam says. “Our goal is to help as many people as possible.”
Feature image courtesy Donnie Biggs/Fairfax County Public Schools
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