Nishad Patne

Projects / Don't Panic

Completed

A survival guide against job scams, built from living experience

1 / 7Mapping how a scam unfolds, from the person targeted to recovery, and marking where the site could step in.

Product
Don't Panic
Role
Research and design
Team
Nishad P and 1 co-builder
Timeline
September 2024
Status
Live, volunteer project

A free guide that helps job seekers, especially international students, spot a scam at any stage and recover from one.

01

Has this happened to you?

  • A friend got a call from a "DOJ officer." His address change hadn't been reported to USCIS, and he could be fined or deported. Scared, he sent his photo ID, EAD, passport and SSN while still on the call. Then came a $200 "processing fine": pay online within hours, or by mailed cheque with extra charges for every day of delay. He paid.
  • Another friend got a call from a "staffing company" about a hardware engineering role. Before she had even applied, they asked for her EAD and resume. Once she sent them, they disappeared.

Real stories from our research, anonymised.

02

Concept and work

  • ResearchI contacted 10 people who had been scammed, mostly friends I graduated with. My co-builder and I mapped how a scam unfolds and where a guide could step in.

  • Structure4 stages (Early, Process, Late and Recovering) and 24 checks. Each check asks one question, rates the warning sign (high, moderate or low), shows how to verify it (domain age by whois, the office on Google Maps, the .gov check, the company careers page), and says what to do next.

1 / 3Mapping how a scam unfolds, from the person targeted to recovery, and marking where the site could step in.

4 stages

The front door: pick the stage you're in.

Verifying a first contact before replying to it.

  • For international studentsSpecific visa and immigration guidance.

  • BuiltIn Framer, in about a week.

  • After launchI took it to ASU's International Students and Scholars Center and met their team for feedback.

  • The nameA Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference (never forget where your towel is).

03

Reflection

I built this as a job seeker myself. After graduating in spring 2024, I posted my resume everywhere, and scammers found me again and again: fake offer letters, a request for a blank cheque "for verification," a request for my passport.

I guessed most people in my position were getting the same. The help that existed was useful but scattered, so my co-builder and I put it in one place. All of the structure was ours, the stages, the checks and the hedges for each; only the verbal polish went to AI.

It was a meaningful project for both of us, because it came out of a problem I was living through.