Our Mission

At LanternPhish, we believe that the best defense against online scams is education, not restriction. Our mission is to empower every family — parents, children, and grandparents alike — to recognize and avoid phishing attacks, social engineering scams, and digital fraud through interactive, hands-on training that actually works.

We founded LanternPhish on a simple but powerful idea: if you can teach someone to spot a fake before they fall for it, you have given them a skill that lasts a lifetime. Parental controls and content filters serve an important purpose, but they cannot replace the critical thinking skills your family needs to navigate an increasingly deceptive digital world.

LanternPhish is the only family-friendly phishing simulation app available on both iOS and Android. We designed it from the ground up to be safe, age-appropriate, and genuinely educational. Every simulation, every lesson, and every report is built to help real families build real resilience against online threats.

Our approach is rooted in research. Studies consistently show that experiential learning — learning by doing — is far more effective than passive instruction when it comes to recognizing deception. That is why LanternPhish puts your family in realistic (but completely safe) scenarios where they practice identifying scams before encountering them in the wild.

Why LanternPhish?

Online scams are not a minor inconvenience. According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), Americans lost more than $12.5 billion to internet fraud in a single year. That number continues to climb as scammers become more sophisticated, leveraging artificial intelligence, deepfakes, and social engineering tactics that fool even tech-savvy adults.

The most vulnerable populations are children and seniors. Children are increasingly online at younger ages, using devices for schoolwork, social media, gaming, and communication. They encounter phishing attempts in their email, text messages, gaming platforms, and social media DMs — often before anyone has taught them what to look for. Seniors, meanwhile, are disproportionately targeted by scammers who exploit trust, unfamiliarity with technology, and social isolation.

Traditional parental controls and monitoring software address part of the problem. They can block known malicious sites, filter inappropriate content, and alert parents to suspicious activity. But they cannot teach your child or your aging parent to recognize a phishing email, a fake text message, or a social engineering phone call. Controls protect people from threats. LanternPhish teaches people to protect themselves.

That distinction matters. No filter catches every scam. No monitoring tool covers every platform. At some point, every member of your family will face a deceptive message and need to decide for themselves whether it is real or fake. LanternPhish fills the critical gap between monitoring tools and real-world readiness by giving your family the practice they need to make that decision correctly.

How It Works

LanternPhish delivers safe, realistic phishing simulations directly to your family members. These simulations mimic the tactics used by real scammers — deceptive emails, suspicious text messages, fake login pages, and urgency-driven social engineering — but in a completely controlled and safe environment. No real data is ever at risk.

Here is what makes LanternPhish different from reading an article or watching a video about online safety:

• Safe, realistic phishing simulations: Your family receives simulated scam messages that look and feel like the real thing. These are designed by cybersecurity professionals to reflect current, real-world phishing tactics — not outdated examples from five years ago.
• Instant feedback when someone clicks: If a family member clicks on a simulated scam, they immediately receive a clear, friendly explanation of what they missed and what to look for next time. There is no shaming or punishment — just constructive, educational feedback that builds awareness over time.
• Personalized risk reports: The LanternPhish dashboard shows you exactly where each family member stands. You can see who is improving, who needs more practice, and which types of scams are most likely to fool your household. These reports help you focus your family’s training where it matters most.
• Coverage for the whole family: LanternPhish is not just for kids or just for adults. Our simulations are age-appropriate and tailored for every generation. A six-year-old receives different simulations than a teenager, and a teenager receives different simulations than a grandparent. Everyone learns at the right level.

Our Approach: Monitor, Educate, Practice, Prevent

Comprehensive internet safety follows a four-step framework. We call it Monitor, Educate, Practice, Prevent — and understanding where each step fits is the key to truly protecting your family online.

1. Monitor: Use parental controls, screen time tools, and network monitoring to keep an eye on your family’s online activity. This step establishes visibility into what your family encounters online. Many excellent tools exist for this step, and we encourage you to use them.
2. Educate: Teach your family about the types of scams and threats that exist. Explain what phishing is, how social engineering works, and why scammers target people of all ages. Knowledge is the foundation of good decision-making. LanternPhish supports this step with clear, accessible educational content built into every simulation.
3. Practice: Give your family hands-on experience recognizing scams in a safe environment. This is where LanternPhish truly shines. Reading about phishing is not the same as encountering it. Our simulations provide the repetition and reinforcement that turns knowledge into instinct.
4. Prevent: With monitoring in place, education absorbed, and practice under their belts, your family is equipped to prevent scams from succeeding. Prevention is the outcome of the first three steps working together.

Most internet safety tools focus exclusively on Step 1 — monitoring. LanternPhish focuses on Steps 2 and 3, the parts that other tools miss entirely. We believe that monitoring without education is incomplete, and education without practice is insufficient. By combining all four steps, you give your family the strongest possible protection against online fraud.

Who We Serve

LanternPhish is built for families, and that means serving a wide range of people with different needs, ages, and comfort levels with technology.

Parents protecting children (ages 6–18): If you have kids who use devices — for school, social media, gaming, or just browsing — LanternPhish helps you teach them to think critically about every message and link they encounter. Our age-appropriate simulations grow with your child, starting with simple concepts for young kids and advancing to sophisticated scenarios for teenagers.

Adult children protecting aging parents: If you worry about your parents or grandparents falling for phone scams, phishing emails, or fake tech support messages, LanternPhish gives them a gentle, supportive way to practice spotting these threats. Our simulations for older adults focus on the specific tactics scammers use against seniors, including Medicare fraud, fake bank alerts, and grandparent scams.

Schools and organizations (coming soon): We are building tools for schools, after-school programs, and community organizations that want to bring phishing awareness training to larger groups. If you represent a school or organization interested in early access, please contact us.

Anyone who wants to stop falling for scams: You do not need to be a parent or a grandparent to benefit from LanternPhish. If you have ever clicked a suspicious link, entered your password on a fake site, or wondered whether a message was real, LanternPhish can help you sharpen your instincts and build confidence in your ability to spot fraud.

We built LanternPhish because we believe every person deserves the skills to protect themselves online. Scammers are getting smarter every day. It is time for families to get smarter too.