netidee projects: Fake Shop Detector Wins State Prize

The project supported by the Internet Stiftung's funding programme has been awarded the State Prize for Digitalization. The Detector warns users of fraudulent online stores in their Internet browser.

The Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) awards the State Prize for Digitization to innovative digital products and solutions from Austria. The Fake Shop Detector project impressed the jury and is one of the winning projects. The prize was presented by State Secretary for Digitalization Claudia Plakolm at the 4Gamechangers Festival 2024.

The Fake Shop Detector helps users to recognize fraudulent online stores directly in the Internet browser.  Using a browser plug-in, every website accessed is checked in two steps: First, a database containing both legitimate and fraudulent online stores is searched.  If it is a previously unknown online store, artificial intelligence is used in the second step. This checks whether there are any similarities with already known fake stores.

The result is displayed according to the traffic light system: if it is a fraudulent online store, a red symbol is displayed as a warning; if it is a reputable online store, the traffic light is green.

The Fake Shop Detector was realized in cooperation with the Austrian Institute for Applied Telecommunications (ÖIAT), AIT Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) and X-Net Services (X-Net).

May 2024

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