Spam and Scam Detection Using

Data Science
Introduction
What are Spam Messages?

Spam messages are unsolicited or unwanted electronic messages sent in bulk

to many recipients, typically via email. Still, they can also occur through other
communication channels like text messages, social media, and instant
messaging platforms.

Imagine a world without a spam filter on your email. Every day, your inbox
would be flooded with unwanted, irrelevant messages, making it a constant
struggle to find the important emails you actually want to read. This is the
reality for millions of individuals and businesses worldwide.

What are Phishing messages?

A phishing message is a fraudulent communication that attempts to trick the

recipient into revealing sensitive information, such as passwords, credit card
numbers, or Social Security numbers. Phishing messages can come in the
form of emails, text messages, or even social media posts. 94% of the
phishing messages are delivered to the suspects via email.

1. Empathy: Understanding User Needs

We have analyzed the problem using the data available on the internet about
scams and spam and identified these problems

User Research
We began by conducting extensive user research to gain a deep
understanding of the pain points and challenges faced by individuals and
organizations dealing with scams and spam emails. We interviewed,
surveyed, and observed users to empathize with their experiences.

Persona Development
Based on our research, we created detailed user personas, representing
different segments of our target audience. This step allowed us to develop a
more nuanced understanding of their unique needs and preferences.

2. Define: Defining the problem:

Problem Statement:

With empathy insights in hand, we defined a clear problem

statement: "How might we protect users from falling victim to scams
and spam emails while ensuring minimal interference with their
legitimate communications?"

How big of a problem is this?

We have analyzed the problem using the data available on the

internet about scams and spam and identified these problems

1. Security Concerns: Without proper spam filtering, users are at

risk of falling victim to phishing scams, malware, and other
cyber threats that can compromise sensitive information. Even
the toughest security systems can be compromised using
simple phishing attacks.
2. Scams:. In 2022, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center
(IC3) received 323,972 phishing complaints, with reported
losses of over $4.3 billion. This represents a 34% increase in
phishing complaints and a 16% increase in reported losses
from the previous year.
3. Missed Important Emails: Legitimate emails often get buried
under the mountain of spam, leading to missed opportunities,
deadlines, and important communications.
4. Time Wastage: Users spend a significant amount of time
sifting through their inbox, and deleting unwanted messages.
This inefficiency hampers productivity.

Goal Definition:

Our primary goal is to develop a solution that provides seamless

protection while maintaining user-friendly interactions.

3. Ideate: Brain Storming:

Given the complexity of the scam and spam detection problem, our team
will conduct a series of targeted brainstorming sessions. These sessions
will be tailored to address specific challenges such as identifying
phishing emails, recognizing suspicious attachments, and distinguishing
between genuine and fraudulent communication.

During these sessions, experts from data science, cybersecurity, and AI

fields will collaborate intensively. They will explore innovative techniques
like Natural Language Processing (NLP), anomaly detection algorithms,
and image analysis for attachment scanning. Each member will
contribute insights based on their domain expertise.

Throughout the ideation process, we will remain highly attuned to the

needs of our users. By incorporating feedback from individuals and
organizations affected by scams and spam, we will ensure that the
solutions we propose are directly aligned with real-world challenges. For
example, we will consider user preferences for transparent reporting and
seamless integration with existing email platforms.

4. Prototype: Building the Solution

Design and Development:

Brief:

We train our AI model by giving it a lot of spam and phishing emails and
messages. By showing these many spam emails, the model creates patterns
among the data using machine learning algorithms. Through this, if a new
spam email is shown to it, the model can detect if it is a spam email or not.

The accuracy depends on the amount of data it is trained with.

Natural Language Processing:

Machine-learning algorithms are used to recognize patterns in the data of lots

of spam and phishing emails

Patterns for example:

The words sale, offer, and discount are found in a lot of e-commerce spam
emails and messages, So the model understands that if a mail is from an
e-commerce brand and it has these words, It’s most likely to be an unwanted
spam email.

This model is used to detect sentiment in a given email or message.We can

detect various sentiments using NLP like anger, fear, surprise, urgency, and
even political sentiments.

The model analyses the sentiment in spam emails it is trained on and

recognizes patterns among them

Example: An e-commerce brand is trying to sell you a T-shirt by telling you

that it is a surprise offer for you which is only valid for the next 10 minutes

Here our model detects the sentiment of urgency and surprise using NLP.

5. Test: Validating the Product

Demonstration of how our model detects phishing mail:
Here is an email from a popular payment service of his called PayPal. It is
saying that Dear customer, your account is limited. You have 24 hours to solve
the problem or your account will be permanently disabled. If you want to be
saved from this problem, you have to give your information to us. Thank you.

A person who is less informed about cyber security and fishing emails is most
likely to send his information to this institution which is claimed to be PayPal
here.

The only job of these people is to get your information and loot your bank
account and they are very good at doing this without leaving a trace.

NOSPAM AI comes to the rescue:

Our nose pam AI model which is trained on huge amounts of data recognizes
the keywords and the sentiment of this email.

Our model identifies the sentiment of urgency which is “you have 24 hours to
solve the problem” and the sentiment of fear which is” your account will be
permanently disabled” which is mostly found and common in phishing emails.

By considering these parameters, our model moves the email to a separate

spam and scam folder. Our model still has a low chance of being wrong. So
we store the email by giving the user a warning rather than deleting it
permanently.

Beta Versions for testing:

We provide the users with the beta version of our product for testing. User
feedback plays a crucial role in enhancing the performance of a scam and
spam detection system. Users report suspicious emails, providing valuable
data about potential threats. This feedback is collected and labeled, then
integrated into the training data. The model is retrained using this enriched
dataset, ensuring it adapts to new scam and spam patterns. This process is
iterative, with regular feedback incorporation and model refinement.
Continuous monitoring and adaptability are key to maintaining effectiveness
against evolving threats. This feedback loop builds trust and leads to a more
robust detection system.
6. Double Diamond Process

The Double Diamond Process is a design thinking framework that helps

guide teams through the process of solving complex problems. It
consists of four stages, each represented by a diamond shape:

Discover
In this phase, we broadened our understanding of the problem by conducting
extensive research and gathering insights from various sources. This involved
examining industry trends, competitor analysis, and emerging technologies
related to email security.

Define
Building on the initial problem definition, we refined and clarified our
objectives, ensuring they were aligned with both user needs and business
goals. This step helped us establish a clear direction for the development
process.

Develop
During this phase, we leveraged the insights gained from the Define stage to
generate a wide range of creative solutions. These ideas were then assessed
based on feasibility, potential impact, and alignment with our defined goals.

Delivery
The selected concepts were transformed into tangible prototypes through a
collaborative effort between our design and development teams. These
prototypes underwent iterative refinement, ensuring they met the highest
standards of usability and functionality.
7. Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

Purpose:
The MVP serves a critical dual purpose:

1. Validation of Concept: By releasing a simplified version of the product,

we can validate whether our approach to scam and spam detection
effectively addresses the identified challenges for our specific use case.
2. User Feedback Loop: The MVP establishes a feedback loop with our
user base, enabling us to gather valuable insights into how the system
performs in real-world scenarios and make necessary adjustments
accordingly.

Iterative Improvement:
Following the MVP release, we'll engage closely with our users and apply an
iterative approach:

● Feedback Collection: Actively solicit feedback from users on their

experiences with the MVP, encouraging them to report any false
positives or negatives.
● Performance Evaluation: Continuously monitor the system's accuracy
and effectiveness, identifying areas for improvement and making
necessary adjustments to the algorithm.
● Feature Expansion: Based on user requests and identified gaps in the
MVP's capabilities, gradually introduce additional features like
 enhanced reporting options, personalized settings, or integration with
popular email platforms.

The MVP's architecture will be designed with scalability in mind. This will
ensure it can handle increasing volumes of emails and adapt to evolving
threat landscapes. This scalability is vital for accommodating future
expansions and enhancements.

The MVP for our scam and spam detection solution will deliver essential
features like basic email classification, a user reporting interface, and a simple
user dashboard. Its purpose is to validate the concept, establish a feedback
loop, and gather crucial user insights. The MVP phase will be iterative,
focusing on collecting feedback, evaluating performance, and gradually
expanding features based on user needs.

8. Conclusion:
According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, there were over 6 million
individual phishing attacks reported in 2022 alone.

Along with that, it's found that 75% of all organizations are victims of phishing
attacks which pushes the figure into tens of millions.

If you’re connected to the Internet and have something that others want like
money, information, media, and data you’re susceptible to these phishing
scams.

So by using our product, you can easily dodge 99% of the phishing scams on
the internet.

So it is a no-brainer to use our product.

Don’t be penny wise, pound foolish.