Royal Bodyguard Prevents Phone Fraud: Keepel.com

LONDON, June 21, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- A new app preventing phone fraud devised by a former UK Royal bodyguard could soon make phone fraud crime a thing of the past.

Hundreds of $millions are stolen from consumers each year and the threat of phone fraud is growing. Money stolen over the phone is rarely all returned, placing banks and customers in conflict with one other and leaving many thousands badly affected.

However, a new Artificial Intelligence-based app called Keepel monitors for patterns of fraud in language and is set to disrupt scammers' activities, preventing phone fraud.

Keepel monitors calls for the type of language and emotional manipulation used by scammers known as 'social engineering.' When this is detected Keepel cuts the call off, keeping the user safe. The system can also alert third parties that a scam attempt has taken place.

Simon Herrera served as a UK police officer for 30 years. For ten years he was a beat officer in London's East End, before becoming a Specialist Firearms Officer (see attached photo of Simon with the Specialist Firearms team) and finally working as a Close Protection Officer for ten years working for the British Royal family (see attached photo of Simon with Prince Charles).

The seed of the idea began to form after Simon Herrema's late father was conned out of his savings while Simon was on duty as a bodyguard to the Royal family.

Simon, aged 58, said: "I was tasked with protecting the Head of State but was unable to protect my own father from a fraudulent telephone call. The crime left an already vulnerable man feeling even more endangered and this, in turn, left our family feeling incredibly angry. I hated the fact that I was powerless to stop this crime from happening again without taking away my dad's independence. My dad was a smart, brave and honorable man, he served in the Second World War and worked hard all his life but in his old age, he wasn't expecting someone to phone him up at home and steal his money. Being a policeman, I began thinking about what could be done to stop this from happening to other people.

"The idea behind Keepel is easy to describe, it's a highly efficient Natural Language filter that draws out the words, phrases and ideas that telephone scammers use. When the system decides that fraud is occurring, it cuts the call off. We've called the product Keepel and we think it will make a huge difference to the security of people who adopt it and it'll make telephone fraud next to impossible. Our team absolutely want to see that happen because it's a particularly vicious and destructive crime. Quite aside from the staggering sums that are stolen every day, the deep and lasting emotional impact of being scammed isn't often acknowledged."

A year on from starting the project, Simon is are now part of an international team from the worlds of telecoms, artificial intelligence, media, finance and academia and they now want to test the process out with a small client base, before taking it to the wider world.

Keepel's CEO Michael Hayes, who formerly served as Telefonica's Head of Multinational Business for Europe the Middle East and Africa says, "In attacking this problem we've used highly innovative AI technology. Our Chief Technology Officer has created a new evaluation process for locating criminal activity within a call and when we deploy Keepel it'll make a big contribution to public safety by preventing phone fraud."

Simon Herrema continues, "I've worked at every level of society and I've seen the devastating effects of crime on the individual. Any help people can offer in participating in the development of this product will be invaluable in taking it to the next level."

For more information go to Keepel.com, or have a look at the team's Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, launching on June 22nd and running for 30 days. Following the Kickstarter, Keepel will be released as an app, initially available on Android phones this summer.

--- EMBARGOED UNTIL FRIDAY JUNE 21st 2019 ---

For further comment, please email Eddy Marshall at eddy.marshall(at)keepel.com
or phone on +44 75 62 41 46 43. Simon & Michael are available for interview.

Links to Keepel Media Files

Links to Keepel Videos

The Keepel Kickstarter Explainer (3 mins):
https://vimeo.com/340768480
Synopsis
All Kickstarter projects need an Explainer film and this is ours. A fictionalized case study, showing how a busy mum might be caught out by telephone fraud, the emotional effects – and how Keepel makes a difference. This video is copyright cleared and can be posted.

The Threat (2 mins):
https://vimeo.com/337945530
Synopsis
Another fictionalized account of an Authorised Push Payment scam with a sad and probably surprising endnote. This video is copyright cleared and can be posted.

Simon's Story (3 mins):
https://vimeo.com/337946155
Synopsis
Ex-Royal bodyguard Simon Herrema talks about the story behind Keepel, about how his father was scammed over the phone and the effects of this. This video is copyright cleared and can be posted.

We Asked The Public (5 mins):
https://vimeo.com/339269033
Synopsis
In December 2018, Keepel interviewed local people to see what they thought of the idea of a technological solution to telephone fraud. This video is copyright cleared and can be posted.

Links to Audio Files

Audio Interview with Simon
(18 mins, with timed Contents on cover page):
https://vimeo.com/338104019

Short Keepel Audio Descriptor (2 mins):
https://vimeo.com/338120146

SOURCE Keepel