After my relative lost £140,000 to scammers, I set out to create a scam detector: Tech entrepreneur Alex Somervell talks to JESSICA BEARD
When Alex Somervell found out that Ashley, a close family member, had handed £140,000 to not just one but three different, unrelated scammers, his first reaction was anger.
In the shock of the moment, he blamed them for sending so much money within four months and not doing more due diligence.
'I was so upset. It was a human reaction, but one that I realise now wasn't helpful,' he says.
But Alex's anger quickly turned to a desire to fight back against the criminals peddling these scams. He embarked on a mission to give victims the tools to stop these scams in their tracks.
![Alex Somervell, 32, who has previously appeared on BBC show Dragons' Den and set up a multi-million-pound business, created a new business to fight back against scammers](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/02/16/86837553-13592829-image-a-17_1719934887873.jpg)
Alex Somervell, 32, who has previously appeared on BBC show Dragons' Den and set up a multi-million-pound business, created a new business to fight back against scammers
Alex, 32, who has previously cut his teeth as an entrepreneur on BBC show Dragons' Den (he turned down the Dragons' money) and set up a multi-million-pound business with long-term business partner Jonny Pryn, created a new business to fight back.
The concept was simple — a free Scam Checker that anyone could use to gauge whether a text, website, letter or email was likely to be fake.
The pair built an AI-powered tool in October last year that operates via messaging application WhatsApp, called Ask Silver.
You can sign up to the service on its website, ask-silver.com, by submitting your phone number and email address, and you will automatically receive a message on WhatsApp from Ask Silver.
You can then run unlimited checks for free on anything you suspect of being a scam. To do so, you need to snap a photo or screenshot of any email, website or leaflet you're worried about and send it to Ask Silver on WhatsApp.
Silver uses AI to spot any red flags, telling users whether content is likely to be real or not, and provides suggestions for next steps on staying safe.
Alex says: 'We realised that it's really common for parents to send a screenshot of a suspicious message to their adult children, asking whether it can be trusted. Family has become the first line of defence because there's no official way of checking. But we've built a checker that can work with more accuracy.'
Alex and Jonny have connected the scanner to several databases of scam warnings, including the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) warning list of unauthorised companies.
Within seconds, the Scam Checker is able to check whether links lead to official websites or not, so you know whether they are safe to click on. It also detects any typical catchphrases or wording used by scammers, such as pressure tactics to assess the risk level.
After sending the screenshot or image, you will receive one of three replies almost instantly.
A red flag means there has been a match on the system with a known scam and you should under no circumstances engage with the website or email.
![Users can send screenshots to Silver](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/02/16/86837339-13592829-image-m-11_1719934633787.jpg)
![The service uses AI to assess its content](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/02/16/86837349-13592829-image-a-12_1719934640757.jpg)
![A red flag means it is a known scam](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/02/16/86837351-13592829-image-a-13_1719934640757.jpg)
![Users can sign up for scam alerts too](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/02/16/86837353-13592829-image-a-14_1719934640758.jpg)
Users can send screenshots to Silver, and the service uses AI to detect fraudulent content. A red flag means it's a known scam and the user must not engage with it
An amber flag is sent where there isn't a match on the database. but there are very suspicious elements that suggest the email, text, letter or website is a scam.
Users will rarely receive a yellow flag, which suggests the image appears to be legitimate, but you should still be careful.
Alex says: 'The bar is set very, very high for the yellow flag, and we will never give anything a completely green light.
We always encourage caution, because you can have legitimate communications within a larger scam, especially if the criminal is starting to socially engineer you to trust them.
'We always advise getting in touch with the organisation directly and not just responding to an email or text message.'
Had Ashley, who does not want their real name to be revealed, used the Scam Checker to review the adverts that lured them into the scams before sending money, they may have been saved the pain and heartache.
![Somervell's business concept is simple — a free scam checker that anyone could use to gauge whether a text, website, letter or email was likely to be fake](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/02/16/86837327-13592829-image-a-15_1719934866628.jpg)
Somervell's business concept is simple — a free scam checker that anyone could use to gauge whether a text, website, letter or email was likely to be fake
Ashley had been roped into a cryptocurrency investment, which promised high returns on Bitcoin — the most famous digital currency. They first made a £3,000 payment, and when that grew, continued to pile more money in.
Over the next couple of months they would invest £80,000 on the cryptocurrency platform with the help of a fake financial adviser, who claimed to work for the company. However, it transpired that, although the account had been set up on a genuine platform, it had been opened in the name of the bogus financial adviser.
This meant that Alex's family member could no longer access their money when they wanted to withdraw it.
Over the next four months, they would make investments in two more scam ventures, one for a renewable bond, where the company behind it was listed on Companies House, and the second in Singaporean gold options. A total of £40,000 and £20,000 was invested in each of these respectively.
Police visits, calls with the UK's fraud intelligence centre and the banks involved, all disappointingly came to little in the way of tracking down the fraudsters.
Thankfully, the banks reimbursed his relative more than £104,000, as they acknowledged the money had been lost to sophisticated fraudsters.
Criminals baiting Britain's most vulnerable rarely face the consequence of their actions. More than 2.9 million cases of fraud were reported last year, with £1.2 billion lost. Though fraud makes up around 40 per cent of all crime in the UK, it receives just 1 pc of police funding.
'The biggest realisation for me was that everyone, regardless of age or intelligence, will go through a vulnerable time when they're susceptible to scams,' says Alex. 'And it is happening all the time. Initially, I assumed you've got to be old or vulnerable to be scammed. But we've reached the stage where anyone can be scammed.'
Three of Alex's friends, who are in their early 30s — two of whom are tech entrepreneurs — have also been scammed, losing between £40,000 and £160,000.
Alex may not have received the justice he wanted for Ashley, but he has created a very valuable service that can be widely used to protect people.
A key part of this is in reporting the scams, which Alex has made central to his Scam Checker. After screening the image and telling you how risky it is, Ask Silver then offers to report the scam to the authorities and relevant agencies, for example, your bank, for you.
![A 'red flag' response means the user must avoid interacting with the fraudulent text or email](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/02/16/86837335-13592829-image-a-16_1719934872704.jpg)
A 'red flag' response means the user must avoid interacting with the fraudulent text or email
Reporting a scam can be a complicated process — there are many ways in which you are expected to flag a suspicious message depending on how it is received. For example, scam text messages should be forwarded, via text, to 7726; fraudulent emails sent to [email protected] and fraudulent websites should be registered via a form on The National Cyber Security Centre website at ncsc.gov.uk. And any scam should also be reported to the organisation that is being impersonated in the message. For example, if the criminal purports to be from Royal Mail or HMRC, they must be alerted, too.
'It's so complicated that a lot of people don't report messages they receive. It needs to be far easier to do,' Alex says. 'By alerting the relevant groups there's a chance that that website, email address or phone number will get shut down. If we can get hundreds of people to report a certain number in a month, then we can try to build up enough pressure on a phone provider to say this is dangerous, and they should do something about it.'
Though still a start-up, the company has already won an award from the FCA, and is expected to run a pilot with the National Trading Standards.
Alex hopes that banks will begin to back the Scam Checker and share it with customers as a tool to protect themselves.
He says: 'The scam data we receive will be invaluable to banks and the authorities, who can take action to stop the scammers.
'More than anything, I wanted to use my family's experience to help others and do good in the world.'
SAVE MONEY, MAKE MONEY
Affiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence.