‘A Digital Gut Check For Your Inbox’: Manalapan Resident Launches AI Tool To Spot Scams

MANALAPAN, NJ — In today's world, it's not too uncommon to be the recipient of a scam message. Whether it's a suspicious-looking email or a fake text, scams and phishing attempts have become more and more common over the last few years.

In Manalapan, resident Mirsad Capric is no exception to this trend, and the recent uptick in scam messages has motivated him to take action by creating his own online tool called IsThisSafe.AI.

The tool, which launched at the beginning of May, aims to help people spot scams or phishing attempts (when attackers send scam messages to try and access personal information) using AI and offers three free scans per month, Capric said.

Users can forward an email, upload a message, or send a screenshot of a text or social media post to the platform, which then checks the message over for anything suspicious.

Capric describes the tool as “a digital gut check for your inbox.”

“I think we all have a similar story [with scams and phishing attempts],” Capric said. “Whether it be a parent, a friend, or a family member who’s not super technical, they’ll show you an email and ask, ‘Does this look legit to you?’ Or ‘Does this seem like it’s coming from the real company or organization?’”

For Capric, it’s an experience he’s had with his own parents over the years. Whether it was his dad sending him a suspicious text or his mom forwarding him an email, he’d often help his parents identify what messages were real and which weren’t.

At first, Capric said the scams were easy to spot. The messages would contain outdated images of the company they were impersonating, or the design and writing style would come off as awkward or unprofessional.

But the real turning point came when Capric was almost tricked by a scam message sent to his email. The message was posing as a company he really uses, and it was about renewing his plan with them, which is an email he usually receives from the real company around once a year.

According to the scam message, Capric’s credit card had expired, and they needed him to log in to update his card information.

“I looked at [the message] first on my phone – didn’t even think twice about it,” Capric said. “I thought, ‘This could be it, because this is a company I use.’ It’s an email that I’ll get at least once a year, and my credit card could have expired.”

Though Capric “didn’t think twice” when he first opened the message, it was the request for credit card details that ended up saving him. Since the card number was on the longer side, he decided to update his information later, and when he looked at the message again on his laptop, he spotted a suspicious-looking URL that the email was leading him to.

“I was like ‘hold on a second – this doesn’t seem like it’s actually from that company,’” Capric said. “I took a closer look at it, looked up the email address, and knew it was a phishing attempt.”

For Capric, the moment served as a realization that phishing attempts are not just getting more common, but are also getting more sophisticated.

If someone like him, who has a background in technology and communications (Capric worked at Citi for almost 17 years), could almost be tricked by this attempt, what about those who aren’t as familiar with today’s technology? Capric posed.

These questions led him to create IsThisSafe, which Capric says is designed to fight back against scams and phishing attacks.

To use the tool, users have a few options. For those who want to check suspicious emails, Capric said users can:

1. Forward the email to scan@isthissafe.ai, which will scan the email over and then send the user an email back with the results on whether or not the email is legitimate and the reasons why
2. Upload the email message to the website, which will scan it to check if the email is real

For those who want to check posts, texts, or direct messages on social media, Capric said users can upload a screenshot of those messages to the website as well, and the website will then scan them to see if the messages are real.

Once the email or text message is scanned, Capric said the only thing retained is the user’s email address, so the tool can send a message back to the user with their results. IsThisSafe does not retain any information or contents of the messages sent to it, Capric said.

“It is a completely private-first application,” Capric said. “No one should be concerned about whether or not we’re retaining credit card information or bank account information. We do not retain any of the information that is in your text messages or in your email messages.”

One example of a recent scam Capric said the tool may be used for is a fake text posing as the NJ Department of Motor Vehicles, which tells recipients that they have an outstanding traffic ticket and must pay it by a certain date to avoid facing penalties.

The scam message has led to warnings from authorities across New Jersey urging residents not to click any links in the message and to report the message when received.

For Capric, who has received training throughout his career on how to spot scam attempts like the DMV text, it’s been easier to spot phishing attempts because he knows some of the common things to look for in these messages.

But for those who don’t have access to such training, Capric said it’s important for people to still have the necessary tools and information to protect themselves from scams. Through IsThisSafe, Capric hopes to give people a new tool to utilize.

“This [tool] is more for the everyday person,” Capric said. “Whether they’re technical or not, [it’s for those] who just want a second look at something or for someone to take a second look at that message and get a confident answer on whether or not it is phishing or it’s legitimate.”

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