Virginia Tech® home

2025 | Track 1 | Anti-scam Conversational helper for On-call Resilience (ANCHOR) for Older People

Parti Team Photo

TRACK 1 SEED GRANT | Whole Health Consortium

Anti-scam Conversational helper for On-call Resilience (ANCHOR) for Older People

TEAM:

  • Katalin Parti, PhD — Associate Professor, Sociology, Virginia Tech
  • Na Meng, PhD — Associate Professor, Computer Science, Virginia Tech
  • Christiana Chamon Garcia, PhD — Assistant Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Virginia Tech
  • William Lester — President & CEO, Warm Hearth Village
  • Sara McCarter — Project Manager, Warm Hearth Village

Older adults are disproportionately targeted by phone‑based scams that exploit stress, urgency, and emotional manipulation. Even when older adults know how scams work, the pressure of a real‑time fraudulent call can trigger instinctive responses—fear, confusion, compliance—that make it difficult to act safely. The Anti‑scam Conversational helper for On‑call Resilience (ANCHOR) project responds to this challenge by creating the first integrated, community‑shaped system designed to intervene during scam attempts and strengthen long‑term resilience.

This interdisciplinary project brings together Sociology, Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the Warm Hearth Village community to co‑develop two complementary tools. First, the team will design an LLM‑powered, real‑time phone‑scam detection assistant that monitors conversations for manipulation tactics and provides immediate, accessible feedback while a call is happening. Second, they will create an immersive XR (virtual/augmented reality) training environment that simulates high‑pressure scam scenarios in a safe, controlled setting. Through repeated practice, older adults can learn to recognize red flags, regulate stress responses, and build confidence in decision‑making.

Community participation is central: residents and staff at Warm Hearth Village will guide needs assessments, participate in focus groups, test prototypes, and provide ongoing feedback. The sociological team will measure changes in emotional well‑being—including anxiety, perceived safety, and scam‑response confidence—while technical teams evaluate detection accuracy, usability, and behavioral changes across XR training sessions.

By shifting scam prevention from post‑incident awareness to proactive, real‑time support, ANCHOR strengthens emotional, cognitive, and physical well‑being for older adults. The project embodies Whole Health principles by centering lived experience, fostering autonomy, and addressing the intersecting psychological, social, and technological factors that shape safety and resilience.