Bowie State University got a special visit from famous actress Tichina Arnold to discuss a technology issue that affects us all, especially vulnerable students. Even Arnold herself was sadly a victim. Get the story from the Bowie State release below.
Award-Winning Actress Believes More Must be Done to Stop Scammers
Tichina Arnold, award-winning actress and co-star of the CBS hit sitcom, The Neighborhood, visited Bowie State University’s Performing Arts Center on March 25 to speak about Gabriel Crypto, a newly developed app that protects individuals from spam calls or phishing.
Each year spam calls account for people losing personal information, financial assets, and peace of mind. Bowie State University graduate students in the Department of Computer Science are conducting research to improve the speed of detecting new spam and ensuring the Gabriel Crypto App functions on an I-phone. Gabriel Crypto users receive payments in Bitcoin for reporting calls they believe are scams. Currently, the Gabriel App is only offered on Android devices.
“People feel violated when they are victimized by scammers,” said Tichina Arnold. “I know because it happened to me. Scamming is a crime and a $32 billion dollar a year problem for individuals, law enforcement, and our economy. That’s why it is imperative that people use the Gabriel Crypto App to protect themselves from thieves,” she said.
Funded by a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to Forward Edge, Gabriel is an industry-leading SMS phishing protection technology that leverages Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain technologies to eliminate mobile eCommerce scams. BSU graduate students are working to enhance the product under the leadership of computer science Professor Darsana Joysula.
“Our graduate students are getting real-time experience in helping to solve a major worldwide problem and evolving new skills in product development,” said Professor Joysula. “There are currently 10,000 Gabriel Crypto App users and our goal is to improve the product thus increasing the number of users exponentially.”
