How Calm Lantern works

You paste a message or a link. We read it, check it against many databases at once, and give you a calm, plain-English answer. Here's what happens between your tap and our verdict.

1. We read your message

We pull out the important pieces — phone numbers, web addresses, the name of any company being mentioned, and words like "urgent" or "warrant" or "gift card" that scammers commonly use.

2. We check the websites

For every link in your message, we look up:

• · When the website was registered (brand new sites are suspicious)
• · Whether Google flags it as a known scam or phishing site
• · Whether the address actually belongs to the company it claims to be from
• · Whether the site has the basic email security every real business sets up

3. We check the phone numbers

We look up each phone number to see if it's a real, working number, what kind of line it is (mobile, landline, or one of the throwaway internet phone services scammers love), and whether it matches any known official number for the company being mentioned.

4. We score what we found

Each thing we find gives the message a few points on a 0-to-100 scale. The score is computed by a regular formula, not by AI. AI only writes the explanation in plain English afterwards.

5. We write a calm answer

Once we have a score, we ask a language model to turn the findings into a short, calm explanation. We always include a "What we did NOT check" line so you know the limits of our answer, and a clear recommended action.

What we never do

• · We never use the words "safe" or "legitimate."
• · We never tell you to act fast.
• · We never call anyone for you, send messages on your behalf, or transfer money.
• · We never guess. If we don't know, we say so.

Read more in our AI Statement or our Privacy Policy.