Happy Monday.
Everyone knows that if you have a tech issue you get a teenager to fix it for you. I used to be that teenager. Now I’m the one who needs things fixed. That change happened quickly!
That’s why I love this story from Time (formerly ‘Time Magazine’), who published their ‘Kid of the Year’ - 17-year-old Tejasvi Manoj from Texas.
Here’s some pieces from the Time Article (which you can read in full for free at the link):
“The unnamed cybercriminals trying to scam seniors out of their money got more than they bargained for when they targeted Tejasvi Manoj’s grandfather back in February 2024. Tejasvi, then a 16-year-old junior at Lebanon Trail High School in Frisco, Texas, was driving home from Scouting America camp with her father when he suddenly noticed five missed calls on his phone—all from his 85-year-old father. He called back, and the older man reported that he had received an urgent email from another relative, Tejasvi’s uncle, asking for $2,000 to settle an unexpected debt. Given the apparent emergency, Tejasvi’s grandfather was prepared to transfer the funds—but her father urged him not to and the grandfather, at the suggestion of his wife, then called the uncle to see if the request was legitimate.
“I never asked you for money,” came the response. “Please don’t send anything until I can look into what’s going on.”
It was a near miss for the unsuspecting senior. The fact that criminals would seek to take advantage of an old man’s lack of sophistication about the workings of the internet galled Tejasvi. When she got home she went to her room and immediately began researching how common such scams are. Very common, it turns out.
“Tejasvi was surprised that there was such a lack of awareness among her grandparents,” says Aishwarya Manoj, her mother. “It was like, Why did you not know? That’s when she went on with her research and found out that it was not an isolated case with her grandparents, but a much larger problem.”
“Within the year she had built and launched Shield Seniors, a website designed to educate the 60-plus demographic about what online scams look like, analyze suspicious emails and messages users upload, and, if the communications prove fraudulent, provide links to report them. The site is currently available in a private preview mode only, pending more R&D and fundraising, but is already—like its creator—making itself known. Tejasvi was recognized with an honorable mention in the 2024 Congressional App Challenge; delivered a 2025 TEDx talk in Plano, Texas, about the need to build “digital bridges” to all demographics; and makes occasional appearances at local assisted-living facilities, demonstrating her website and teaching seminars about cybercrime.”
“Shield Seniors didn’t come easy. For one thing, Tejasvi had a lot of other activities to attend to. She is active in Scouting America—recently receiving her Eagle Scout rank—and plays violin in her school orchestra. She tutors Bhutanese refugees online in math and English through an organization called Vibha, a nonprofit involved in workforce and scholastic development in India. She also does volunteer work—serving on the leadership board of the North Texas Food Bank Young Advocates Council and packing meals, with the social-enterprise company TangoTab, for families facing food insecurity.
“I started volunteering in sixth grade,” she says. “I think it’s really important; if you’re lucky yourself, you want to make sure other people feel loved and lucky too.”
“Shield Seniors presented another way to do that, and Tejasvi was well prepared to do the coding that would make the project possible.”
“Tejasvi began coding in eighth grade, taking cybersecurity classes and attending summer programs sponsored by the nonprofit Girls Who Code.”
“I code mostly in Java and Python, and a bit of HTML,” Tejasvi says. “I really love the fact that you can solve problems with your computer, and I really like creating.”
“Interacting with a population that was already approaching middle age when the internet appeared, Tejasvi’s bot keeps its answers simple—holding them to two sentences or even less.
“If you ask ChatGPT or Gemini questions about cybersecurity, they are going to give you, like, 10 paragraphs of answers with very hard-to-understand terminology,” she says. “That works for some people, but it doesn’t work for most older adults.”
“Another section labeled “Analyze,” is where the true brains of the site live. When users click this tab they’re directed to a page that allows them to upload a suspicious text or email, which an AI system will then analyze with what Tejasvi says is 95% accuracy at determining what’s a scam and what’s not a scam. Then, it goes beyond just providing a digital thumbs-up or down.”
“It will also explain why,” she says, “because our goal for Shield Seniors is to make sure older adults are independent and know what to look for. We want to make sure they’re able to navigate the online world confidently, with independence, and with dignity.”
“And she’ll keep working to expand and improve Shield Seniors—and her personal footprint as well, hoping especially to be welcome in more assisted-living facilities where she can interact with seniors face-to-face. For now, she’s had the opportunity to visit just a few, with others telling her to come back when she’s had a little more experience. “I’m a bit young, I guess,” she says.
“But that’s not stopping her from getting the message out as best she can, as she continues to advocate for seniors to become savvy and independent in cyber-space, and for their family members to help them gain the necessary experience and confidence.”
“Just make sure to check up on your loved ones,” Tejasvi says, asked if she has any advice for those who want to join her in that quest. “Make sure that they’re staying safe online.”
See you next Monday Morning,
Wade