Problysus - Scam Detection Web App

Problysus is a full-stack web application designed to analyze website URLs for potential scam risks. It provides a comprehensive risk assessment by performing multiple checks, including blacklist verification, domain age analysis, SSL certificate validation, and content trust verification.

Key Features

• Real-time URL Analysis: Instantly scans URLs to detect potential threats.
• Risk Scoring: Calculates a risk score (0-100) and classifies sites as Safe, Suspicious, or Fraudulent.
• Detailed Checks:
  • Blacklist Check: Verifies if the domain is present in known threat intelligence feeds.
  • WHOIS Analysis: Checks domain age and creation date.
  • SSL/HTTPS Verification: Ensures the site uses a valid security certificate.
  • Pattern Recognition: Detects suspicious URL patterns often used in phishing.
  • Content Trust: Scans for essential trust indicators like Privacy Policy and Contact pages.

Performance Optimizations

The scanner includes several performance optimizations to speed up analysis:

Fast Mode

Use ?fast=true query parameter for quicker scans that skip behavior analysis:

POST /analyze?fast=true
{
  "url": "https://example.com"
}

Fast Mode vs Full Analysis:

• Fast Mode: ~3-5 seconds (skips Playwright browser analysis)
• Full Analysis: ~8-12 seconds (includes all checks)

Caching

• WHOIS data cached for 24 hours
• DNS records cached per session
• Reduces repeated lookups for same domains

Timeout Optimizations

• WHOIS lookups: 5 second timeout
• DNS lookups: 3 second timeout per query
• HTTP requests: 5 second timeout
• Playwright browser: 6 second total timeout

Parallel Processing

• Independent checks run concurrently where possible
• HTML content fetched once and reused across multiple analyzers

Tech Stack

Backend

• Python
• Flask (Web Framework)
• requests, python-whois (Analysis Tools)

Frontend

• React (via Vite)
• Framer Motion (Animations)
• Axios (API Communication)

Installation

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8+
• Node.js & npm

Backend Setup

1. Navigate to the backend directory:

   cd backend

2. Create a virtual environment:

   python -m venv venv

3. Activate the virtual environment:

   • Windows:

     venv\Scripts\activate

   • macOS/Linux:

     source venv/bin/activate

4. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

Frontend Setup

1. Navigate to the frontend directory:

   cd frontend

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

How to Run

1. Start the Backend Server: From the backend directory (with venv activated):

   python app.py

   The backend will start on http://127.0.0.1:5000.

2. Start the Frontend Development Server: From the frontend directory:

   npm run dev

   Open the URL shown in the terminal (usually http://localhost:5173) to use the application.