About Cautellus
Helping people understand and avoid online scams
Our Mission
My mission is to help people protect themselves from the growing threat of online scams. After seeing too many people fall victim to sophisticated fraud, I built Cautellus to give everyone access to free, powerful scam detection tools.
Every day, scammers get more creative. They use AI-generated images, deepfakes, fake payment screenshots, and increasingly convincing phishing messages. I believe everyone deserves tools to fight back — not just tech-savvy people, but your parents, grandparents, and anyone who uses a phone or computer.
Meet the Founder
Hi! I'm a lifelong learner based in the Midwest with 20+ years in financial services — compliance, digital security, and fraud prevention. I've spent two decades watching how money moves, how people get tricked, and how institutions fail to protect the people who need it most. I built Cautellus because the scam detection tools that exist were made for IT departments, not for your mom when she gets a weird text from “Chase.”
When I'm not building scam detection tools, you'll find me playing Stardew Valley, reading books, or spending time with my family. I live with my husband, our son, and two dogs who are convinced they run the household (they're not wrong).
In an unrelated plot twist, we also own a dog grooming salon — which was absolutely not in the career plan. I still work in financial services full-time, but somehow we ended up with a grooming business too. If you'd told me years ago I'd be juggling compliance reviews and puppy appointments, I would have laughed. But honestly, the number of scam emails we get at the shop is unhinged, so it all came full circle.
Building Cautellus has been a labor of love — combining my background in finance and security with something that genuinely helps people. No jargon, no corporate nonsense. Just a second opinion before you click, reply, or pay.
How the Cautellus Scanner Works
Cautellus combines AI behavioral analysis with live threat intelligence, so you get more than a guess — you get verification. When you paste a message, link, or screenshot, the scanner runs two layers:
- Behavioral detection. We identify the manipulation tactics scammers rely on — urgency, authority, impersonation, and emotional pressure — which works even on AI-generated phishing that has perfect grammar.
- Threat intelligence. We cross-reference against 10,000+ confirmed scam entities aggregated from Reddit scam-tracking communities, the FBI's IC3, the FTC, and global phishing databases tracking 770,000+ confirmed malicious domains — refreshed every 6 hours.
- Image scanning. Screenshots are processed in real time to extract URLs, phone numbers, and email addresses, which are run through the same threat pipeline — then discarded. We don't store the content you scan.
No tool is perfect, and Cautellus is a second opinion — not a guarantee. We tell you which tactic a scam is running and why, so you can make the call with eyes open. You can read more about our data sources and privacy practices on our security page.
The Official Cautellus Security Team
Blue
Head of Couch Security
Dachshund. Specializes in perimeter patrol (of the living room) and suspicious noise investigation.
Belle
Chief Nap Officer
Weimaraner. Leads the napping division with unmatched dedication and an impressive snoring portfolio.
They don't help with coding, but they provide excellent moral support.
Help Us Fight Scams
Every person who learns to spot a scam is one fewer victim. Try our free tools, share them with friends and family, and sign up for scam alerts.