The builder's path
For: People in India can't quickly check whether a caller claiming to be police or a regulator is real before they transfer money.
“The true creator is necessity, which is the mother of our invention.”
Routes to a solution
Each route is a different kind of journey, with real people and organisations to contact at each step, starting with those in India.
Step 1
Partner with a nonprofit on the ground
They know the people and can run it with you.
Incubator for social enterprises in health, agriculture and livelihoods.
Lab-to-market platform for science and technology aimed at social problems.
Incubator and investor at IIM Ahmedabad, with impact programmes.
Patient capital and fellowships for enterprises serving low-income communities.
Step 2
Pitch a foundation or CSR fund
Show the evidence and the people it reaches.
Where companies report CSR spending; shows which companies fund which causes and where.
Large philanthropy in health, education, water and livelihoods.
Support for entrepreneurs, skilling and AI for social good.
Patient capital and fellowships for enterprises serving low-income communities.
Ideas, sources and tools for this problem, from first interviews to funding.
Official reporting route; the tool should hand off here.
Runs the national portal and the 1930 helpline and tracks these scams.
Starter prompt
Built from this problem's brief. Paste it into Claude or any AI assistant.
Help me design and build a first working prototype for this problem in India. Problem: People in India can't quickly check whether a caller claiming to be police or a regulator is real before they transfer money. Who it hurts: People targeted by 'digital arrest' calls, where fake officers on video threaten arrest unless money is moved. The moment it hurts: A video call from someone in uniform saying a parcel or bank account in their name is linked to a crime, and that they must stay on the call and pay. What people do today: Victims are kept on the call and isolated; reporting happens after the money has gone, through the 1930 helpline or the cybercrime portal. Why it is still unsolved: Real agencies don't arrest people by video, but the people targeted don't know that in the moment, and there is no fast way to verify a caller. What solved looks like: A one-tap check a family member can set up on a parent's phone: share the caller's number or a screenshot, get an immediate warning that police do not make arrests over video calls, and alert a chosen relative while the call is still going. Where: India First, list what you would need to learn from the people affected before building, as interview questions. Then propose the simplest version that would help, the screens or messages it needs, and the data it would use. Keep it cheap to run, accessible, and respectful of people's privacy. Flag anything you are unsure about instead of guessing.
Talk to the people who live it before you build.
“Knowledge itself is power.”
Ipsa scientia potestas est.
Get a working version in front of people fast.
Using AI is not cheating. Every tool carries the work of the people who made it, and using it well is how knowledge has always moved forward. The thinking, the care for the people who live the problem, and the judgement are still yours.
“The Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves.”
Open data that fits this problem.
“In the fields of observation chance favours only the prepared mind.”
Dans les champs de l'observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés.
Tools matched to what this problem needs.
“The things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”
Ship it responsibly, and find help and funding.
“Speak the truth. Do what is right.”
सत्यं वद। धर्मं चर।
satyaṃ vada, dharmaṃ cara
Kit written for this problem from its brief; every link was checked. Links go to each provider's own site. Zetema is not paid for any listing.