KC-built app locks down vulnerable users’ data before they can share it with online scammers

He’s a startup founder today, but a protective brother first, said Danny Moran, describing how his sister with special needs motivated the launch of an app to protect vulnerable people engaging in a digital world too often filled with bad actors.

Danny Moran and Bryce Wolff, Advoteck, in June at Startland News’ 2024 Startup Crawl showcase; photo courtesy of Advoteck

“She’s been scammed online multiple times over the past 10 years, causing significant financial loss for my family and emotional damage to her,” explained Moran, co-founder and CEO of Advoteck.

The Kansas City-based startup debuted in 2024, and in March completed development of two apps — the Advoteck Caregiver app and the TypeSafe Keyboard app — which work together to prevent older adults and those with special needs from sharing sensitive information online and to alert caregivers when they try to share info like Social Security numbers or credit card details.

“It’s something that I’ve wanted for a long time,” Moran said. “I’ve wanted to find a way to protect my sister far before 2020, but the pandemic allowed me to focus on that.”

“Having the apps on my phone and using them daily is really, really cool,” he added, noting his personal experience with the tech he developed alongside co-founder and COO Bryce Wolff. “And talking to the users that we do have, it’s been really good.”

Other solutions only alert caregivers after sensitive data has already been shared, Moran explained, and they don’t prevent it from leaving the device. But with Advoteck’s TypeSafe Auto-Replace feature — which was released in May and works like auto correct for sensitive information — the keyboard app can block the information from getting sent. The keyboard will not pull up in secure payment platforms like Amazon or Target.

“If they were to type their credit card number in a Facebook message,” he continued, “then our keyboard will automatically replace that message with another message that says, ‘Sorry, I can’t share this information.’ Then it will still notify the caregiver that they attempted to share that information.”

“This means families can step in before harm is done,” he added.

Most tools on the market aren’t designed specifically for vulnerable adults, Moran said.

Danny Moran and Bryce Wolff, Advoteck, pose with Jeff Hornsby and Bob Regnier during the awards presentation for the 2024 University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Regnier Venture Creation Challenge; photo by Startland News

“We’re the only ones focused on protecting them in a way that also respects their privacy and autonomy,” he continued, noting that value proposition helped the company earn funding from the Missouri Technology Corporation, University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Regnier Venture Creation Challenge and Digital Sandbox KC.

Advoteck’s safeguards are multilayered; for example, the caregiver using the tech must first verify their identity when downloading the app, making it accessible to third-party caregivers, he continued.

“So that they’re not taking advantage of the person that they’re caring for,” he added.

Then to protect their secure info, Moran said, the caregiver just enters fragments of the “secrets” that they want to receive alerts about if the user tries to share it.

“On the drop down menu if they’re selecting a credit or debit card, they’re just typing in the last four digits of that number,” he explained. “Same thing for your social security number and your address.”

In April, Advoteck launched beta testing of the app in partnership with Special Olympics Missouri, Moran shared. But of the 250 families that initially signed up a year in advance, only 10 committed once the beta testing opened. So Moran expanded Advoteck’s outreach.

“We are now exploring partnerships with senior living communities and banks to protect their residents and members from scams,” he said.