Meet the Scam Detector: Forta’s Answer to Web3 Fraud

Today, the Forta Network will introduce fees, requiring users to pay for the bots they consume, and rewarding the bot developers. This is a major milestone for the Forta Network and community, as developer incentives represent a necessary component of a sustainable and decentralized Forta Network. 

In conjunction with Forta turning on network fees, the Forta Foundation launched an updated version of the Scam Detector, an API-based data feed that provides intelligence about a variety of Web3 scams and the entities involved. The new version of the Scam Detector incorporates malicious URL data, expanded threat coverage, and contributions from leading development teams like BlockSec and Nethermind. Powered by machine learning and a collective of Forta contributors, the Scam Detector provides threat intelligence at each stage of a scam.

This post will provide more details about how the Scam Detector works, threat coverage and pricing. 

How It Works

As a refresher, the Scam Detector is a “bundle” of Forta bots, each monitoring for a different threat type, that have been packaged together into a comprehensive data feed. These bots leverage a combination of heuristics and machine learning to detect scam behavior in real-time. When they find a scammer, they emit a real-time alert, and they permanently label the scammer EOAs and contracts involved. This threat intelligence is available to Forta users through the GraphQL API.

Expanded Coverage

Scam Detector v1 focused on on-chain data only, flagging EOAs and contracts involved in scam activity. The latest version also incorporates malicious URLs, offering a much more comprehensive dataset and positioning the Scam Detector as a tool for dapp screening. The Forta community has expanded coverage to now include 15+ different threat types. It also leverages new predictive techniques to flag on-chain addresses associated with known scammers, and contracts that closely resemble known scammers.  

Like the original version, the updated version of the Scam Detector runs across the seven EVM chains supported by Forta, including Ethereum, Polygon and BNB Chain. 

Who Benefits?

Threat intelligence about malicious EOAs, contracts and dapps/URLs is used by a variety of companies in the ecosystem, including Web3 wallets, centralized exchanges and AML compliance platforms. Wallets like Zengo have used the Scam Detector to warn their users about malicious addresses during the pre-signed transaction screening process. AML compliance platforms like Solidus Labs are using the Scam Detector to help their clients prevent money laundering. The Scam Detector is also used by a number of other Web3 security tools as a complementary source of threat intelligence. 

Pricing

A subscription to the Scam Detector will cost $899/mo, and includes unlimited API calls. Subscriptions are payable in USDC and completed on-chain using the Unlock protocol. All revenue is distributed back to the developers maintaining the Scam Detector, including Blocksec and the Forta Foundation.

For more information about the Forta Scam Detector, please visit the Scam Detector’s bot profile page.