Graph neural network based phishing account detection in Ethereum

Abstract In recent years, the widespread adoption of Ethereum-based transactions, such as cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies, have revolutionized the way financial transactions are conducted. These decentralized and transparent systems offer numerous advantages, including enhanced security, immutability, and reduced transaction costs. However, alongside their benefits, Ethereum-based transactions have also attracted the attention of malicious actors seeking to exploit unsuspecting users through phishing scams. Phishing scams have thus become frequent in this scenario. Therefore, it is required to implement an effective and reliable phishing scam detection method. In this paper, we present the implementation of a highly efficient detection method by carrying out a graph-like data network formation, over which we then apply models that are based on graph neural networks like Magnet Link Prediction and Graph AutoEncoder Pathfinder Discovery Network Algorithm (GAE_PDNA). This helps in extracting useful information from the nodes of the graph. After relevant embeddings have been obtained, the classification of the phishing account is performed using AdaBoost classifier that helps in complex decision-making and detects the accounts related to the phishing scams. Our best model attains a precision of 0.99 and an F1 score of 0.99. Highlights