FraudShield

Problem Statement: Fraud Shield for First-Time Digital Users

Problem

First-time digital users are highly vulnerable to scams, phishing, and fraudulent transactions.

Challenge

Develop a real-time system that:

• Warns users before risky transactions
• Detects suspicious activity patterns
• Educates users in simple, understandable language

Goal

Increase trust in digital financial systems and protect new users from fraud.

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Overview

FraudShield is a comprehensive, real-time protection platform designed specifically for new digital payment users. It actively monitors, flags, and prevents potentially fraudulent transactions before they happen. By combining an intuitive user interface, a fast rule-based risk analysis engine, and gamified user education, it ensures a safe and secure environment for modern digital transactions.

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Technical Specifications

Tech Stack

• Frontend: Vanilla HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. Designed with a mobile-first, full-bleed professional UI approach.
• Backend: Python with FastAPI for high-performance, asynchronous REST API endpoints.
• Database: SQLite (fraudshield.db) for lightweight, reliable, and fast local data persistence.

Key Features & Implementation Details

1. Real-Time Risk Analysis Engine

The system performs instant background checks on transaction payloads via the /api/analyze endpoint.

• UPI Risk Scoring: Evaluates UPI handles, transaction amounts, and payment purposes.
  • Checks against a blocklist of known phishing keywords (e.g., "scam", "lottery", "refund", "customer-care").
  • Identifies suspicious top-level domains (TLDs like .tk, .xyz).
  • Flags excessively high transaction amounts based on predefined risk thresholds.
  • Employs Regex patterns to catch deceptive handles trying to mimic official entities (e.g., "bank.official").
• URL Analysis: The /api/analyze-url endpoint scans URLs to identify missing HTTPS, deceptive banking keywords (e.g., "sbi", "hdfc"), and unverified domains to prevent phishing attacks.

2. User Dashboard & Gamification

• Safety Score & XP: Users earn Experience Points (XP) and increase their Safety Score by executing safe, verified transactions. Conversely, interacting with blocked or risky entities decreases the score.
• Stats Monitoring: The user dashboard displays real-time metrics, including "Money Saved", "Transactions Protected", and "Total Threats Scanned", fostering trust and transparency.

3. Smart Alert System

• Generates immediate "Critical" or "Warning" alerts whenever risky transactions or suspicious activities are detected.
• Transactions yielding a risk score above 60 are automatically flagged or blocked, notifying the user immediately.

4. Educational Hub (Learn Module)

• Includes dedicated pages (learn.html) to educate users in simple, understandable language about common digital fraud vectors.
• Gamified learning elements are integrated to build habits that increase user awareness and trust in digital financial systems.

5. User Management & Data Privacy

• Secure authentication system with password hashing (SHA-256).
• Complete isolation of user data (multi-tenant architecture on SQLite), ensuring users only see their own transactions, alerts, and metrics.

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Running the Application

1. Start the Backend Server

Navigate to the backend/ directory and run the FastAPI server:

cd backend
python app.py

(The API will start at http://127.0.0.1:5001 with Uvicorn)

2. Launch the Frontend Application

Simply open index.html or login.html in your web browser. Alternatively, you can serve the project using a local server for a better experience:

# Using Python's built-in http server
python -m http.server 8000

Then visit http://localhost:8000/login.html.

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Built to make digital payments safe, simple, and secure for everyone.