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FAQ

Everything you need to know about the system's behaviour, privacy, and technical limitations during the beta release.

System Behaviour and Autonomy​

What happens if the Protector is unavailable during an active alert?​

If a Protector does not respond to an FCM notification, the system does not automatically terminate the call. JERC Sentry follows a "Human-in-the-Loop" philosophy to prevent false positives from accidentally disconnecting legitimate interactions. However, the Protectee will still receive the "whisper" warning, providing them with an immediate prompt to exercise caution while the call continues.

Does routing the call through Telnyx introduce noticeable latency?​

No, at least not in our testing. Because JERC Sentry utilizes Telnyx's Media Forking (via WebSockets), the audio stream is duplicated. One stream remains in the low-latency bridge between the caller and Protectee, while the second stream is sent to our AI pipeline for analysis. This parallel processing ensures that neither party experiences audio delay or jitter.

How does the system handle emergency callbacks?​

JERC Sentry is designed to respect emergency services. On iOS, placing an emergency call (e.g., 911) automatically disables "Silence Unknown Callers" for 24 hours to ensure that dispatchers or first responders can call back from unsaved numbers. Additionally, because Conditional Call Forwarding (CCF) only triggers when the line is "busy" or "silenced," a direct callback from an emergency line—which bypasses native silencing—will ring the Protectee's device normally. Furthermore, if an emergency call is some how routed through the Telnyx backbone, JERC Sentry explicitly disables all streaming and analysis for these sessions.

Privacy and Data Retention​

Are my phone calls recorded and stored?​

We prioritize user privacy. JERC Sentry utilizes real-time audio streaming to Deepgram (for transcription) and Groq (for analysis) in full compliance with PIPEDA. To maintain strict data security, transcript processing occurs exclusively in-memory to generate threat metadata and "scam reasoning" for the Protector. Neither our platform nor our third-party integrations persistently store raw audio files or text transcripts.

Who pays for the telephony and AI inference costs during the beta?​

During the beta release, all infrastructure costs—including Telnyx telephony minutes, Deepgram transcription, and Groq inference—are covered by the JERC Sentry development team. Beta testers are not required to provide their own API keys or payment information.

Device and Workflow Limitations​

Can I use my existing carrier voicemail?​

Unfortunately, no. Because JERC Sentry intercepts silenced calls via Conditional Call Forwarding (CCF) before they reach your carrier's deposit system, callers will not be able to leave a message on your standard carrier voicemail. This is a known technical limitation during the beta release, and restoring voicemail functionality or providing an internal alternative is a high priority on our future roadmap.

How can a Protectee receive an expected call from an unknown number?​

It's important to note that we do not block calls from unknown numbers, but rather monitor them instead. However, if a Protectee is expecting a call from a delivery driver or a doctor's office and wants to ensure the call is not processed by our system, they have two options:

  1. Temporary Contact: Add the expected number to their contacts list temporarily.
  2. Outbound Trigger: If the Protectee calls the number first, iOS recognizes the number as "expected" and will allow a return call to bypass the "Silence Unknown Callers" setting for a short window.

Why is the Protectee side restricted to iOS for the beta?​

The JERC Sentry workflow relies heavily on the "Silence Unknown Callers" feature to trigger the "busy" signal required for Conditional Call Forwarding (CCF). While Android has similar features, the consistency and native silencing behaviour on iOS provided the most stable foundation for our beta release. Android compatibility is a priority on our future roadmap.

AI Accuracy and Edge Cases​

How does JERC Sentry distinguish between legitimate urgent calls and social engineering?​

The system uses the Llama 3.1 8B model, which is specifically prompted to identify social engineering markers such as:

  • Manufactured Urgency: Demands for immediate action.
  • Unusual Payment Methods: Requests for gift cards, wire transfers, or crypto.
  • Impersonation: Pretending to be a government official or relative in distress.

If a call is from a legitimate source (like a bank's fraud department) but lacks these malicious markers, the AI threshold will remain low, preventing unnecessary alerts.

Does the system detect and translate non-English phone scams?​

For the current beta, the AI pipeline is optimized for English audio. While Deepgram supports multilingual transcription, our LLM analysis prompts and threat detection logic are currently tuned for English-based social engineering patterns.

Intervention Mechanics​

When a Protector joins a call, is their presence announced?​

Yes. When a Protector selects Join Call, they are bridged into the existing session via a standard three-way conference. While they are joining, the system injects the following audio message into the conference: "A third party is joining this call."

What exactly does the Protectee hear during a "whisper" warning?​

The "whisper" warning is a subtle audio injection played exclusively to the Protectee's leg of the call. It consists of a brief, clear AI-generated voice stating, "Suspicious activity detected for this call. Proceed with caution." The caller cannot hear this warning.

Network and Carrier Variables​

Does Conditional Call Forwarding work while the Protectee is travelling internationally?​

Conditional Call Forwarding (CCF) is a carrier-level service. While it typically persists abroad, routing a forwarded call to a North American Telnyx number while roaming may incur significant international long-distance charges from your carrier. We recommend disabling CCF while travelling unless you have an international calling plan.

What happens if the Protectee changes carriers or gets a new phone?​

  • New Phone: If you keep the same SIM/number, your call forwarding settings will persist as they are stored at the carrier level.
  • New Carrier: Moving your number to a new provider will reset your forwarding settings. You will need to re-run the Conditional Call Forwarding (CCF) setup string provided in the Protector app.

What happens if my phone plan does not support Conditional Call Forwarding?​

At this stage, you would need to upgrade or change your phone plan to one that includes Conditional Call Forwarding (CCF). We understand this isn't an ideal experience, so for our current beta testing phase, we are exclusively targeting users who already have CCF integrated into their existing plans.

Account Scalability​

Can multiple Protectors monitor a single Protectee?​

For the beta release, the relationship between a Protector and a Protectee is 1:1. This ensures clear accountability for intervention actions. We are exploring "Family Groups" for future releases, which would allow multiple registered Protectors to receive alerts for a single Protectee.