Image Forensics Analysis of the Authenticity of Digital Payment Evidence using the K-Nearest Neighbor Algorithm

Abstract

The rapid growth of digital transactions has also increased the risk of digital payment evidence forgery, such as screenshot manipulation or digital image editing. This study aims to develop an automated authenticity validation system for digital payment evidence by integrating Image Processing, Image Forensics, and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technologies. The processing pipeline begins with image preprocessing, followed by forensic feature extraction and OCR-based text analysis, which are then classified using the K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) algorithm.
This study evaluates 15 experimental scenarios based on combinations of training and testing data ratios (90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40, and 50:50) and random state values (42, 32, and 22). Model performance is assessed using accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score metrics across a range of k values from 1 to 15. The results indicate that the optimal performance is achieved at k = 7, with an accuracy of 97.1%. The proposed system is able to efficiently distinguish between authentic and manipulated digital payment evidence. The system is implemented as an Android application that allows users to upload payment evidence via the device camera or gallery, after which the system automatically analyzes its authenticity. The findings demonstrate that the integration of image forensic techniques and the K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) algorithm effectively detects indications of manipulation in digital payment evidence and enhances the efficiency of the verification process within the digital financial services ecosystem.