BLOCKCHAIN-BASED ACADEMIC CERTIFICATE VERIFICATION SYSTEM WITH AI FRAUD DETECTION

Academic certificate fraud is a growing global concern, with thousands of forged degrees and diplomas presented to employers and institutions every year. Traditional paper-based and centralized digital verification methods are slow, prone to human error, and vulnerable to tampering. This paper presents CertVerify, a blockchain-based academic certificate verification system that combines the immutability of Ethereum smart contracts with AI-powered fraud detection to provide a tamper-proof, fast, and reliable solution. The system is built using Java Spring Boot for the backend, Ethereum blockchain with Solidity smart contracts for immutable certificate storage, MySQL for relational data management, and a modern HTML/CSS/JavaScript frontend. An AI fraud detection module performs multi-layer rule-based analysis on certificate data before issuance. Each certificate is assigned a unique SHA-256 hash, stored on-chain, and linked to a scannable QR code for instant verification. Key features include dual-synchronized revocation and restoration across database and blockchain, camera-based QR scanning, and a fully responsive web interface. The system demonstrates that blockchain immutability combined with institutions.

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