Scammer Shutdown: Stopping Fraud Through Education

Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Aayush Gandhi. Read his story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.

Seventeen-year-old national level Lincoln-Douglas debater Aayush Gandhi is a passionate reader. Reading and research is a large part of what draws him to debate. So, when his grandparents, who immigrated from India, started getting targeted for scams, he leaned on his skills to figure out how to help. What he learned was astounding, not only about the wide variety of scams but the complexity of the tactics used.

Last year alone, $13-14B in losses were reported due to scams, a number drastically underestimated, andmore than 80% of cases go unreported. Determined to protect others in his community, Aayush started a fraud awareness campaign that later became FraudStop, a national organization designed to educate people about the types of fraud, safeguards against them and available legal resources.

Today, Aayush leads a three-person team and has partnered with more than 24 organizations in multiple states to do that. He has hosted 20+ events and distributes resources in multiple languages. As he continues to debate government policy at tournaments across the country, he empowers people to protect themselves from those with unsavory designs.

What inspires you to volunteer?

I’ve always been drawn to the idea of helping people. The primary way I’ve channeled that is through teaching. I’m a tutor at my school’s Academic Resource Center and a former hospital volunteer. From my experience, I realized that I love talking to people, helping them out and seeing the moment they figure a new problem out or learn something new.

Tell us about your volunteer role with FraudStop.

FraudStop has several programs, but the biggest is the presentations. I’m always working out where the next one will be, who we can partner with and how we can educate more community members. Our approach has been to work with organizations and people across the prevention ladder to target people affected and bring in relevant guest speakers.

I’ve hosted a table at U.S. House Representatives Eric Swalwell’s and Lateefah Simon’s senior resource fairs and brought guest speakers from those offices to my events. I’ve worked with certifying agencies like the SF Association for Certified Fraud Examiners, law enforcement like Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, Adult Protective Services, senior centers and many more.

At every event we host, we share our resources. We’ve distributed them in California, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wyoming so far. We’ve also hosted podcast episodes with companies like TRM Labs, who are doing cryptocurrency fraud tracing.

What inspired you to get started with this initiative?

When my grandparents immigrated, they got a new email account, phone number and so forth. I saw them get hundreds of unknown calls, spam text messages and emails, and they struggled to figure out real from fake. As I was helping them, I realized I could do more to help other seniors avoid fraud.

Luckily, I was enrolled in a criminal justice class, and my teacher was a former law enforcement officer. Together, we designed a 120-slide presentation that covered every aspect of fraud. We had five or six participants at our first one and learned a lot about how to market, present and organize subsequent events.

Can you tell me about the growth process and how you got involved with these different partnerships?

We hosted a couple events, and then I began cold emailing hundreds of local organizations and calling them during lunchtime at school. As we got one partnership, the next one came. For example, at Representative Swalwell’s senior resource fair, he featured me on his Instagram page.

It got around 20,000 views and led to a partnership with UNCLE Credit Union. At an UNCLE Credit Union event, we got more partnerships with other financial institutions as well as law enforcement agencies, and we’ve continued to grow.

Can you give us one or two tips for people trying to protect themselves against the most common schemes?

Telephone scams are the most common. Scammers have technology that allows them to change how their number appears on your end. Their number may be XYZ, but on your end, it’s your granddaughter or the IRS. If you don’t recognize a number calling, or if the number belongs to someone you know but the person on the other end is saying they’re in an emergency, hang up. Do the same for any number calling about an emergency or an unexpected event, like your taxes not being filed. The only way to combat telephone scams is to hang up the phone and redial the official number from your contacts list or, for example, your bank’s website.

What are your long-term plans or goals for the organization?

I’m hoping to expand FraudStop to young adults, because fraud is increasingly targeting people my age and younger through social media and online platforms. I’d also like to explore other avenues, like policy.

What’s been the most rewarding part of your work?

It’s been listening to other people’s stories, giving them advice and seeing them smile; that’s what really drives me. I’ve modeled my presentations and table hosting events to be about giving personalized advice. For example, at Berkeley, one lady complained about getting a spam call from her doctor’s office, so we walked through how to block unknown callers who are maybe not her doctor.

Why is it important for others to get involved with causes they care about?

Community is all that we really have. Interacting with the community builds bonds between neighbors and beyond. It’s vital, particularly in this digital age. I enjoy connecting with others, listening to their stories and helping them. If you’re motivated by a similar purpose, you should look to service as the means to do that.

What do you want people to learn from your story?

At all of my events, I’ve been the only high school student talking about fraud amongst a wide array of professionals. I learned about fraud all by myself. No matter how old or experienced you are within a particular field, you can always get involved.

Do you want to make a difference in your community like Aayush? Find local volunteer opportunities.