New app, Deepcover, to help older adults spot online scams

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to learn how to recognize online deceptions and prevent the spread of elder fraud.

That, in a nutshell, is the idea behind Deepcover, a free new app available for download on Apple’s App Store and Google Play that aims to equip older adults with the skills they need to safely navigate the increasingly complex digital world we inhabit.

Developed by the University at Buffalo Center for Information Integrity (CII) and partners, the app borrows from themes made popular in Mission: Impossible, James Bond and other spy films.

Users are paired with a partner – Agent Daring, Agent Intrepid or Agent Valiant – who guides them through a series of increasingly complex “missions” to improve their digital literacy.

“The overarching goal of Deepcover is to provide older adults with a fun and engaging way to learn about, and help prevent the spread of, online scams and fraud,” says Siwei Lyu, PhD, co-director of the Center for Information Integrity and a SUNY Empire Innovation Professor in the UB Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

Elder fraud costs billions

In 2021, more than 92,000 U.S. adults aged 60 and over reported losses of $1.7 billion due to online fraud, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.

To fight this problem, the National Science Foundation (NSF), through its Convergence Accelerator program, awarded the Center for Information Integrity a two-year, $5 million award last year to develop tools, such as Deepcover, that help older adults protect themselves from online deceptions.

The grant’s co-principal investigators include Natalie Bazarova, PhD, professor in the Department of Communications at Cornell University; Dominic DiFranzo, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Lehigh University; Darren Linvill, PhD, associate professor in the College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences at Clemson University; and Anita Nikolich, director of research and technology innovation and research scientist in the School of Information Sciences at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Other team members from UB include David Castillo, PhD, co-director of the Center for Information Integrity and a professor in UB’s Department of Romance Languages and Literatures; Rohini Srihari, PhD, professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering; and Cynthia Stewart, PhD, program manager for the UB Center for Information Integrity.

Digital literacy tools not geared for older adults

While there are many digital literacy tools available, most are not tailored to older adults, which limits their effectiveness. Deepcover aims to address this limitation by including a wide range of online schemes older adults encounter.

For example, it includes lessons about common cryptography terms such as cipher, which is essentially a code to disguise messages. While it may sound intimidating, the app presents this concept in a tile-matching video game, similar to Tetris or Candy Crush Saga.

Upon completion of each task, participants are given a score as well other remarks such as “intel gained.”

Deepcover was developed in coordination with Whitethorn Games and MenajErie Studio, both of Erie, Pennsylvania.

It is part of larger initiative called Deception Awareness and Resilience Training (DART) led by the Center for Information Integrity, which was launched in late 2021 with internal funding from the UB Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development.

Additional DART partner organizations include the Amherst Center for Senior Services in Amherst, New York; Clemson Downs, a retirement community in Clemson, South Carolina; and the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library system.