Offline-first South African scam intelligence with a physical Arduino cyber-alert Sentinel
# 🛡️ GIGO Sentinel
### Offline-first scam intelligence that becomes a physical cyber alert
**A South African mobile-security hackathon project by Ashley Van Rooyen**
> **The internet makes GIGO smarter. It does not make GIGO work.**
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## The problem
Scams are increasingly convincing, but many protection tools depend on cloud access, arrive after the damage is done, or overwhelm people with technical language.
**GIGO provides an immediate, understandable risk assessment—even offline—and turns serious digital threats into a visible, physical warning.**
## The solution
| Mobile protection | Physical protection | Responsible intelligence |
|---|---|---|
| Offline 0–100 scam scoring | Green, yellow and red LEDs | Explainable signals, never random scores |
| Messages, links and email checks | OLED status and safety tips | South African organisation directory |
| Local history and report queue | Buzzer and physical ACK button | Governed multi-agent evidence review |
| iOS and Android through Expo | Arduino Uno over USB serial | Privacy-minimised cloud sync |
## Mobile experience
GIGO uses five focused tabs:
- **Home** — current protection status and quick actions
- **Check** — analyse suspicious messages, URLs and email content
- **Alerts** — view live Sentinel evidence and start the guided demo
- **Learn** — practical scam-awareness lessons and safety tips
- **Profile** — local preferences, sync and Premium access
Core checks work without an account, cloud API or internet connection.
## South African intelligence
GIGO provides verified guidance for organisations frequently impersonated in local scams:
**Capitec · FNB · Absa · Standard Bank · Nedbank · SARS · SASSA · NSFAS**
The detector explains OTP, Remote PIN, payment, urgency, impersonation, credential, sender-domain and suspicious-link signals in plain language.
## Physical Sentinel
The Arduino Uno Sentinel converts governed risk into a response people can see and hear:
| Risk | State | Ha …