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🛡️ FraudGuard

FraudGuard is a clean, responsive Java Swing desktop application designed to simulate an enterprise merchant fraud monitoring and investigation workflow. Built as a portfolio project, it demonstrates key software engineering practices including a layered desktop architecture, thread-safe SQLite local persistence, and analyst registration/authentication flows.

🚀 Key Features

• 🔒 Analyst Authentication: Secure portal for analysts with login and account registration screens.
• 📊 Fraud Watchlist Dashboard: Monitor, search, and manage flagged/suspicious merchant accounts in real-time.
• ⚠️ Risk Scoring Engine: A rule-based scoring model that calculates threat classifications (Low, Medium, High) based on blacklist history and report frequency.
• 💾 Auto-Initializing SQLite Database: Local file-based database persistence with automated schema creation and default admin credentials seeding on first launch.
• 🖥️ Cross-Platform GUI: A clean desktop interface featuring a responsive sidebar navigation built with Java Swing cards.

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📸 Screenshots

Analyst Authentication Gateway

Verify Status Interface

Flag Suspicious Account Form

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🏛️ System Architecture

FraudGuard utilizes a clean separation of concerns, separating user interface panels from SQL operations and the database access layer.

graph TD
    classDef default fill:#1e1e24,stroke:#3a3a4a,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff;
    classDef database fill:#1a365d,stroke:#2b6cb0,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff;
    classDef gui fill:#2d3748,stroke:#4a5568,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff;

    UI[JFrame App Container: FraudGuardApp]:::gui --> CardL[CardLayout Controller]:::gui
    CardL --> View1[Registration Screen]:::gui
    CardL --> View2[Login Screen]:::gui
    CardL --> View3[Dashboard Panel]:::gui
    CardL --> View4[Status Verifier Panel]:::gui

    View3 & View4 --> DB[Database Manager: FraudDatabase Singleton]
    DB:::database --> Driver[SQLite JDBC Driver]:::database
    Driver --> File[(Local SQLite File: fraudguard.db)]:::database

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🛠️ Codebase & Technical Highlights

• Thread-Safe Singleton Pattern: The database controller FraudDatabase uses a double-checked synchronization wrapper to manage connections safely across potential concurrent worker threads.
• Dynamic SQLite Bootstrapping: Resolves absolute file paths dynamically based on runtime classpath location to ensure the database file initializes robustly regardless of how or where the app is launched.
• Component-Driven Swing Layout: Leverages Java Swing CardLayout for fluid transitions between screens without spawning multiple window instances.
• Character Safe Encoding Support: Source files are built using UTF-8 to display visual UI icons (like 🛡️, 🖥️, ⚠️) gracefully.

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⚙️ Quickstart

Prerequisites

Ensure you have Java 8 or higher installed. Check your version with:

java -version

Launch on Windows (One-Click)

We have provided a native Command Prompt launcher script:

1. Double-click run.bat in File Explorer, or run:

.\run.bat

Launch on macOS / Linux

Open a terminal inside the project directory and execute:

chmod +x run
./run

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🔑 Demo Credentials

The application automatically seeds a default analyst account on its very first run:

• Analyst ID Key: analyst01
• Security Passcode: secure2026

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📁 Repository Layout

├── .gitignore               # Excludes binaries, .class files, and local DBs
├── README.md                # Project documentation and showcase
├── LICENSE                  # MIT License details
├── banner.png               # Premium repository banner graphic
├── run.bat                  # One-click Windows runner and compiler
├── run                      # One-click macOS/Linux launcher shell script
├── FraudGuard.java          # Core Swing GUI and database implementation
└── sqlite-jdbc-3.34.0.jar   # Bundled SQLite database connection driver

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📈 Future Enhancements (Roadmap)

To transition this project into a production-grade merchant portal, the next steps include:

• Secure Credential Hashing: Migrating plain-text analyst passwords to Argon2id or bcrypt hashing.
• Automated Testing Suite: Writing JUnit integration tests for database operations and validation logic.
• REST API Integration: Migrating local SQLite to a remote PostgreSQL server via a Spring Boot backend API.
• Executable Distribution: Packaging the project into a native .exe or executable .jar using launch4j or jpackage.

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📄 License

This project is licensed under the APACHE License. See LICENSE for details.