TrustShield – Scam & Misinformation Guard

TrustShield – Scam & Misinformation Guard

TrustShield is a voice-first safety extension designed to help adults and retirees quickly check whether online messages, emails, or AI chat outputs show signs of scams or misinformation. It uses on-device heuristics and a simplified SCAB (0–18) safety score to make results clear and easy to understand.

All processing happens locally in your browser. No personal data, browsing history, or page content is ever sent anywhere.

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Key Features

🔍 Scan for Risk • Scan Selection: highlight a sentence or paragraph and check it instantly. • Scan Page: review an entire webpage or email thread. • Paste or Dictate: copy text in or use your voice to check content.

🗣️ Voice-First Design • Speak to Scan: dictate content using your voice. • Read Result: TrustShield will read the analysis back to you with text-to-speech.

🚩 What TrustShield Flags • Scam risk: gift card / crypto requests, urgent time pressure, impersonating authorities, threats of arrest/legal action, password/SSN requests, suspicious links. • Misinformation risk: sensational claims, conspiracy language, absolute certainty without evidence, anti-source “do your own research,” all-caps shouting, excessive exclamation marks. • SCAB score (0–18): adds a simple measure of ethical and safety alignment.

🖥️ Page Highlighting • Highlight suspicious phrases directly on the webpage so they are easy to see.

👵 Senior-Friendly UI • Large buttons and text size slider. • High-contrast mode for better readability. • Simple, step-by-step layout.

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Privacy by Design • Offline by default: all analysis is done in your browser. • No remote code: the extension never loads code from outside sources. • No data collection: we do not log or share your browsing history, personal information, or message content. • Voice features: if you use speech input, your browser handles it locally through built-in APIs.

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How It Works 1. Open an email, news article, or AI chatbot. 2. Click the TrustShield icon. 3. Choose “Scan Selection,” “Scan Page,” or “Speak to Scan.” 4. View your scam score, misinformation score, SCAB score, and flags. 5. (Optional) press “Highlight Risks” to mark phrases directly on the page.

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Benefits • Stay safe: helps identify common scams and misinformation tricks. • Stay private: nothing leaves your browser. • Stay confident: clear color-coded results (✅ Safe, ⚠️ Warning, ⛔ Risk). • Stay independent: use your voice to scan or hear results without needing small text.

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Permissions Explained • Storage: only to remember your last scan and accessibility preferences (text size, contrast). • ActiveTab: needed to scan the current page you choose. • Scripting: injects the local highlighter when you request it. • Optional Host Permissions: requested only if you enable the extension on a given site.

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Disclaimer

TrustShield is a safety aid, not a substitute for judgment or professional advice. It flags common scam and misinformation patterns but cannot guarantee accuracy in every case. If you suspect fraud or encounter urgent financial/legal threats, always contact official authorities directly.