It seems like we all have someone in our lives — our mom or dad, grandma or grandpa, someone older or perhaps with cognitive decline — who’s been fooled by a scammer.
We’ve gotten that panicked phone call where they realize they’ve been tricked by a phishing email, a text about unpaid toll road charges, or even an alarming letter in the mail. And no matter how many times we tell them what to look out for, how to spot a scam, it happens again and again. It’s frustrating, and it’s exhausting. We want to protect them, but we can’t always be there to intervene. And, often, by the time we realize they’ve fallen for a scam, it’s too late.
Technology, with a human touch
That’s my story, and why I created OwlGuardian. I wanted to find a way to use technology to protect my parents without confusing them. Spam filters are great, but these days they’re not enough for today’s sophisticated scams. AI can be an even more powerful tool, but it’s not perfect. That’s why OwlGuardian is different. It combines AI with the human touch.
After you help your loved one set up OwlGuardian, they never have to think about it again. It works silently in the background. When it detects a suspicious email it quarantines the message and alerts you. After you decide whether it’s safe, OwlGuardian will either return the message to your loved one’s inbox or permanently quarantine it.
Beyond the inbox: Call My Owl
More than email protection, OwlGuardian offers a unique feature called “Call My Owl.” After you help them install a custom iOS shortcut, whenever your loved one sees a suspicious text, WhatsApp message, an alarming Facebook post, or a suspect pop-up ad, they can simply say, “Hey Siri, call my Owl,” and the app will take a screenshot of whatever they’re looking at and give them a quick, reliable judgment about whether it’s safe. Call My Owl can also use the iPhone’s camera to scan physical mail or documents, helping your loved one make smart, informed decisions. And anything OwlGuardian evaluates can be shared with you if your loved one wants reassurance.
But is OwlGuardian itself safe?
“Okay, sounds great,” you might say, “but is OwlGuardian itself safe?” The answer is: absolutely. OwlGuardian was built with user privacy and security in mind. It was given a perfect score on a rigorous code audit called the Cloud Application Security Assessment (CASA), which Google requires for any app that wants to integrate with Gmail. Your loved one’s data is double-encrypted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) servers, and only suspect messages are stored for your review, then deleted. Furthermore, only you can view suspicious messages. Absolutely no one else.
Please take a look at the FAQs if you’d like to learn more, and feel free to reach out to support@owlguardian.net with any other questions or concerns.
— Eric Wasserman, creator of OwlGuardian