Building SMP Fraud Busters: Turning Medicare Scam Prevention into an Engaging Game
How AppPresser helped the Senior Medicare Patrol National Resource Center create an interactive experience that teaches older adults and caregivers how to spot and stop scammers.
Fraudsters don’t take days off, and neither should the tools that protect people from them. That’s the idea behind SMP Fraud Busters, the interactive game developed for the Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) National Resource Center.
The game puts players in the shoes of an everyday person going about their day. Along the way they face realistic email, phone, and in-person scam attempts, complete a to-do list, play short brain games that reinforce fraud knowledge, earn badges, and climb a leaderboard. The goal is simple: turn important (but often dry) scam-prevention education into something people actually want to play and remember.
You can experience it yourself at smpfraudbusters.org.
Try it out & play the game!
We made this game available via any web browser and also as stand alone mobile apps for iOS and Android in the App Stores.
Why a Game?
Medicare beneficiaries and their caregivers are frequent targets of sophisticated scams. Traditional educational materials (articles, flyers, and even news alerts) are useful, but they often compete with limited attention and technical comfort. SMP wanted something more engaging.
SMP Fraud Busters was designed to:
- Simulate real-life decision points (a suspicious phone call, a too-good-to-be-true email, an unexpected knock at the door)
- Track progress through clear to-do lists so players feel a sense of accomplishment
- Reinforce learning with short, focused brain games
- Reward continued play with badges and friendly competition on a leaderboard
The result is education that feels like a game instead of a lecture.
How We Built It
The web application powering SMP Fraud Busters was built by AppPresser as a flexible, content-driven experience. A few key decisions shaped the project:
WordPress as the content backbone Scenarios, quiz questions, educational snippets, and badge criteria live in WordPress. This lets the SMP team update fraud examples, add new levels, or refresh brain-game content without touching the front-end code or waiting for app-store reviews. The same content model that powers parts of the broader SMP ecosystem feeds the game cleanly through the WordPress REST API.
Interactive front-end focused on clarity and accessibility The game interface prioritizes large tap targets, clear visual hierarchy, and straightforward navigation. This is critical for an audience that includes older adults and caregivers who may not be daily gamers. Progress is always visible, feedback is immediate, and the overall flow stays lightweight so it works well on both phones and desktop browsers.
Playable online (and ready for broader distribution) While the experience is available as part of the larger SMP Medicare Tracker ecosystem, the dedicated site at smpfraudbusters.org makes the game easy to share, promote, and play directly in a browser. This dual approach (deep integration where it makes sense plus a clean standalone web presence) gives SMP maximum reach.
Gamification that serves the mission Badges, task completion, and the leaderboard aren’t just fun extras. They create motivation loops that encourage players to return, practice more scenarios, and internalize the warning signs of common Medicare-related and general scams.
Throughout development we worked closely with the SMP team so that every scenario reflected real tactics older adults actually encounter. The final product balances engagement with accuracy and remains easy for non-technical staff to maintain.
This project was especially cool to work on because it helps everyday elderly people protect themselves from being taken advantage of. Knowing the game could keep real people from losing money or personal information to scammers made the work feel meaningful from start to finish.
The Bigger Picture
SMP Fraud Busters is one piece of a larger digital effort by the Senior Medicare Patrol National Resource Center to give Medicare beneficiaries and their families practical tools. Alongside appointment tracking, scam alerts, and educational resources, the game adds an active, memorable layer of prevention.
By making the experience playful without watering down the message, the project shows what’s possible when educational content, modern web technology, and a clear mission come together.
Ready to explore similar interactive experiences for your organization? Whether you need a gamified learning module, a content-driven web app, or a full mobile solution connected to WordPress, we’d love to talk.
Play the game: smpfraudbusters.org
Learn more about SMP: smpresource.org
Build Custom Games for Any Industry
AppPresser can build custom interactive games like SMP Fraud Busters for almost any industry. The same approach works for employee training, customer education, compliance, onboarding, or public awareness campaigns.
A few examples:
- Healthcare organizations can create scenario-based games that teach patients how to manage medications or spot billing errors.
- Nonprofits can turn fundraising or volunteer training into engaging challenges with badges and progress tracking.
- Public schools can offer custom educational games that teachers personalize for their classrooms, adapting content, difficulty, or themes to match their lesson plans and students.
If you have a topic people need to learn or practice, we can turn it into a game that actually gets used.
