Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

ScamProtect is made by Spectre Creation, a company in Botswana ("we", "us"). This policy explains what information the ScamProtect Android app and our website (thebe.spectrecreation.co.bw) collect, why, and the choices you have.

ScamProtect is an independent app. It is not a government service.

2. What we collect

To protect you, the app has to look at the messages and calls you receive. When protection is on, we collect:

• Messages you receive: the text of incoming SMS messages and the sender's number, sent to our checking service (shown in the app as the ScamProtect service) to be rated.
• Calls you receive: the caller's number, to check it against numbers reported as spam or scams.
• Things you check: the phone numbers, messages, links and text you submit in the Scanner.
• Reports you make: the type of scam, the number, sender or account you report, what happened, the location if you give one, and any evidence you attach, such as screenshots and links.
• Your protection history: the ratings and results for the messages, calls and items checked.
• Emergency contacts you add: their names and numbers, saved to your account.
• Device and account details: an identifier for the account the app creates for your phone, your app settings, the app version and your phone's model and Android version.
• Crash reports: technical details about errors in the app, so we can fix them.

You don't need to give us your name to use the app.

3. What stays on your phone

The app reads your SMS conversations and call log to show them in the app, and your contacts to show names. Your contact list and your past conversations are not uploaded. Only the messages and calls you receive while protection is on, and the things you choose to check or report, are sent to us.

Ratings are also stored on your phone. You can remove them with Profile → Clear scan history.

4. How we use it

• To rate messages, calls, numbers and links, show you warnings and the reasons for them, and keep your protection history and report.
• To warn other people: numbers that are reported or rated as scams are rated higher for everyone who uses the app.
• To improve how we detect scams, and to keep the service secure and working.
• To answer you when you contact us.

We do not sell your information and we do not use it for advertising.

5. Who we share it with

• Other ScamProtect users: reports, including the number and what happened, are shared with other users without your name, so they can be warned. Don't include your own PINs, passwords or other personal details in a report.
• Service providers who run parts of the service for us under confidentiality obligations, such as hosting, crash reporting, security checks on numbers and links, and SMS delivery.
• The police or other authorities, when the law requires it or to protect people from fraud.

6. Where it is stored and how it is protected

Your information is stored on servers that our hosting providers run for us, which may be outside Botswana. It is sent between the app and our servers over an encrypted connection, and access to it is restricted to people who need it to run the service.

7. How long we keep it

We keep your protection history and account information while you use the app. Reputation records for reported and rated numbers expire 180 days after they were last updated. Reports are kept for as long as they help warn others. When you ask us to delete your information, we delete it unless the law requires us to keep it.

8. Your choices and rights

• Turn protection off at any time on the app's home screen, or use Custom Mode to keep your own SMS app.
• Withdraw any permission in your phone's settings. Some protection will stop working without it.
• Clear the ratings stored on your phone with Profile → Clear scan history.
• Ask us for a copy of your information, to correct it, or to delete it, by writing to privacy@spectrecreation.co.bw. We reply within 30 days.
• Complain to the Information and Data Protection Commission of Botswana if you are unhappy with how we handle your information.

9. Our website

Our website has no accounts and uses no advertising or tracking cookies. When you use the checker on the Check for Scams page, the message, link or number you enter, and your IP address, are sent to our checking service to be rated, the same way as checks made in the app. Our servers keep standard logs, such as your IP address, browser and the pages you visit, to run and protect the site. It loads fonts from Google Fonts, which receives your IP address when it sends them.

10. Children

ScamProtect is not meant for children under 13 without a parent or guardian setting it up for them.

11. Changes to this policy

We will update this policy when the app changes how it uses information, and show the date of the latest version at the top. For significant changes we will also tell you in the app.

12. Contact us

Questions about privacy: privacy@spectrecreation.co.bw.