Before you start using Check First

What Check First is

Check First is a contact in your WhatsApp. When something worries you, you send it to Check First and get a second opinion. Your helper is told too, so you don’t have to decide on your own.

What you send

You can send anything you’re unsure about, such as:

• a WhatsApp message, forwarded to Check First
• a screenshot of a text message, an email or a Facebook Messenger message
• a link, sent using the Share button on the phone
• a photo of a letter
• after a phone call that felt wrong: hang up, then send Check First a voice note saying what the caller wanted

Only send what you’re worried about. We will never ask for your passwords, PINs or card numbers.

What you get back

Every check gets one of three answers, with a short explanation:

• High risk Don’t pay, don’t reply and don’t click anything.
• Check it yourself Contact the company or person using a number or website you already trust, not one in the message.
• No warning signs found That doesn’t prove it’s real. If in doubt, ask.

A check is a second opinion, not a guarantee. No check can catch every scam. If something still feels wrong, stop and speak to someone you trust.

Who sees what you send

• Check With Me reads everything you send to Check First.
• Your helpers see what you sent and the answer you got.

Nobody else at Check With Me sees it. We never sell it or use it for advertising. Your messages reach us through WhatsApp, which is run by Meta.

How AI helps

Check With Me uses AI to help assess each message. The AI is called Claude, and it’s made by a company called Anthropic.

• Anthropic doesn’t use the messages we send it to train its AI.
• Anthropic keeps them for up to 30 days, to run its service and keep it secure, then deletes them. It keeps one longer only if it breaks Anthropic’s rules on misuse or the law requires it.
• Check With Me checks the answer before it’s sent. The AI never replies on its own.

How your helper is involved

When you send something to Check First, your helper gets a message with what you sent and the answer. They can reply to you with one tap:

• “Don’t do anything, I’ll contact you”
• “Check it through the official app, website or number”
• “I’ve confirmed it directly with them”

If your helper doesn’t reply straight away, you still get your answer. You aren’t left waiting.

Removing a helper

You can remove a helper at any time. You don’t have to give a reason, and we won’t tell them.

To remove a helper, either:

• send Check First a message saying “Remove” and the helper’s name, or
• tell Check With Me

Check With Me will reply to confirm it’s done. From then on, that helper won’t see anything you send.

How long we keep messages

We delete what was sent to Check First, and the explanation that went with the answer, 30 days after it was sent.

After that we keep only the answer (for example “High risk”), the date and your family reference. This helps us see how well Check First is working. It doesn’t include the message.

How messages are deleted

Once a week, Check With Me deletes everything older than 30 days from the Check First phone and from our records.

If you want something deleted sooner, tell Check First or email privacy@checkwme.co.uk. We’ll delete it within 7 days and tell you when it’s done.

Alerts that a helper has received stay on their own phone until they delete them.

Other people in messages

A message might include someone else’s name, number or details. We only use them to check the message, and we delete them along with it.

It’s your choice

You don’t have to use Check First. If you start, you can stop at any time by telling Check With Me. Stopping doesn’t cost anything.