CheckMate

Objectives

Scams are a big problem today, with $660.7 million lost to scams in 2022 alone. Fake news is also another perennial societal problem. We want to help chip away at scams and fake news by providing a trusted, low-friction avenue that people can use to verify any dubious instant messages. Also helps to build up a database of scam messages that can tie in to other initiatives such as ScamShield. We want to help folks, especially those from the older generation, who are vulnerable to fake news and influence operations. Typically these groups receive such messages from group chats, and are very susceptible to forwarding them on. Most of this group use WhatsApp.

How the Product Works

In a nutshell, citizens who receive dubious messages (typically forwarded on to them) will in turn forward it to a Whatsapp number. If the message exists in the database, the they immediately get a reply. Otherwise, the system triggers a group of volunteer CheckMates to check the message. This is also done via Whatsapp. The CheckMates vote. Upon the closure of the poll, the database is updated, and a corresponding reply is sent to the citizen.

An online message database is maintained at the Checkmate website here.

For the technically inclined, we're on Firebase, with HTTP-triggered Cloud Functions hooked up to Whatsapp Business Account webhooks, and Firestore as the database. Code is all in node.

Media Mentions

Checkmate has received multiple instances of media coverage, including an article from the Straits Times here.