A

Project Report

On

Intelligent Spam Detection Using Machine Learning

Submitted By
KHUSHI PATEL[23084341009]
SHUBHAM PATEL[23084341010]
M.Sc.IT (AI&ML)
Semester-IV

Guided By
Dr. Jagruti Patel

Submitted to
Department of Computer Science
Ganpat University, Ganpat Vidyanagar-384012
April - May 2025
 Department of Computer
Science
Ganpat University,
Ganpat Vidyanagar-384012

Date: 03 /05 /2025

CERTIFICATE

TO WHOM SO EVER IT MAY CONCERN

This is to certify that the following students of Master of Science

in Information Technology with a specialization in Artificial
Intelligence and Machine Learning Semester-IV have completed
their Full time project work titled “Intelligent Spam Detection
Using Machine Learning-” satisfactorily.

Name Exam No
KHUSHI PATEL 23084341009
SHUBHAM PATEL 23084341010

Internal Guide Project Co-ordinator Principal/HOD

Dr.Jagruti Patel Dr. Jagruti Patel Dr. Satyen Parikh
 CONTENTS FOR PROJECT REPORT

Sr. No Title Page

No
1 Project Profile
1.1 Project Description 1
2 Introduction
2.1 Problem Statement 2
2.2 Objective and Scope Technology 3
2.3Existing System 4
2.4 New System 4
2.5 Model Design 5
2.6Workflow 6
3 Literature Survey 7
4 Data Collection
4.1 Description of Data 11
4.2 Data Sources 11

5 Methodology
5.1 Description of The Analytical Methods and 12
Techniques Used
5.2 Details on Any Algorithms or Models 12
Applied
5.3 Justification for The Chosen Methods 13
6 Output Screen/ Results and Evaluation 14
7 Future Scope 17
8 Bibliography / References 18
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who has supported and
contributed to the success of this project. First and foremost, We extend our deepest
thanks to our project supervisor, Dr. Jagruti Patel, for her guidance, valuable
insights, and continuous support throughout the development of this project. Her
expertise and constructive feedback have been instrumental in shaping the direction
of this work.
We would also like to thank Dr. Jagruti Patel , Project Co-ordinator for her assistance
and advice at various stages of the project. Her encouragement has been incredibly
motivating.
A special thank you to the developers and creators of the various tools, libraries, and
frameworks, such as Keras, NLTK, TensorFlow, and others, whose open- source
contributions were vital in bringing this project to life.
We are also thankful to our family and friends for their understanding, patience, and
unwavering support during the course of my work. Their encouragement and
motivation have kept me focused and driven.
Lastly, We appreciate all the users who tested the chatbot and provided feedback,
which helped refine the system and ensure it meets user expectations.
Without the help and support of these individuals and resources, this project would
not have been possible.
 ABSTRACT
Spam detection has become a critical component of secure and efficient digital
communication, particularly with the exponential growth of email and messaging services.
Traditional spam filters, often reliant on static rule-based systems, struggle to adapt to
evolving spam tactics, leading to reduced accuracy and increased false positives. This project
proposes an intelligent, machine learning-based system for robust and adaptive spam
detection. By leveraging historical email data, including content, metadata, and sender
behavior, the system can learn complex patterns that distinguish spam from legitimate
messages.

The approach involves a systematic pipeline beginning with data collection from public email
datasets, followed by preprocessing techniques such as text normalization, tokenization, and
removal of stop words. Feature extraction methods like TF-IDF and word embeddings are
utilized to convert unstructured text into meaningful numerical representations. Various
classification algorithms, including Naive Bayes, Support Vector Machines (SVM), and
Random Forest, are evaluated for their performance in detecting spam.

The models are trained and validated using standard performance metrics like accuracy,
precision, recall, and F1-score to ensure effectiveness and reliability. Advanced techniques
such as ensemble learning and hyperparameter tuning are also explored to further improve
classification accuracy. An intuitive user interface supports real-time detection and
visualization of spam probabilities, enhancing usability for end-users.

This machine learning-driven system addresses key limitations of traditional spam filters by
providing a scalable, adaptive, and accurate solution. It significantly reduces the risk of spam
infiltration, enhances user experience, and strengthens digital communication security

Keywords: Spam detection, machine learning, text classification, natural

language processing, feature extraction, email security, data preprocessing
Intelligent Spam Detection Using Machine Learning

1 PROJECT PROFILE
1.1 PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The "Intelligent Spam Detection" project aims to transform the way digital
communications are secured by leveraging machine learning to accurately detect and
classify spam messages. Traditional spam filters rely on manually defined rules or
static keyword lists, which often fail to adapt to the evolving and sophisticated tactics
used by spammers. These outdated methods result in high false positive or false
negative rates, leading to user frustration and potential exposure to malicious
content. By integrating advanced machine learning algorithms, this project seeks to
automate the spam detection process, offering a precise, adaptive, and real-time
solution for individuals, businesses, and service providers.

The project follows a robust and methodical approach to ensure the effectiveness and
scalability of the detection system. Data is gathered from diverse sources, including
publicly available spam datasets, messaging platforms, and email repositories.
Preprocessing techniques are applied to clean and structure the raw text data. This
includes steps like removing stop words, stemming or lemmatization, handling class
imbalances, and converting text into numerical representations through techniques
such as TF-IDF and word embeddings.

Through Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA), patterns in spam messages are

uncovered—such as common words, message lengths, frequency of links, and
sender behavior—providing insights that inform model development. A variety of
classification algorithms, including Naïve Bayes, Support Vector Machines (SVM),
Decision Trees, and Random Forest, are trained and evaluated. The models are tested
using performance metrics such as accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score to ensure
they effectively distinguish spam from legitimate content.
Feature engineering is central to enhancing model performance. Custom features like
the number of capitalized words, presence of suspicious phrases, and domain-
specific tokens are created to capture nuanced characteristics of spam messages.
Categorical variables are encoded, and dimensionality reduction techniques may be
employed to optimize model efficiency without sacrificing accuracy.

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Intelligent Spam Detection Using Machine Learning

2 Introduction

2.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT

 Spam Message Volume: The number of spam messages is

growing fast, making it hard to detect them manually.

 Data Complexity: Spam messages come in many different forms,

making them hard to identify without a good system.

 Manual Filtering Challenges: Checking messages by hand is

slow and can lead to mistakes, especially with lots of messages.

 Incorrect Detection: Some spam filters miss spam messages or

wrongly mark good messages as spam.

 Need for Accuracy: We need a system that can accurately detect

spam without many errors.

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2.2 OBJECTIVE AND SCOPE TECHNOLOGY

Main Objective Of The Project
Develop a spam message classifier using machine learning techniques. The
objective is to create a robust and reliable model capable of effectively detecting
spam messages for real-world applications. As Spam and Frauds are Rapidly been
increased, So a model with Good Accuracy is Must.

SCOPE TECHNOLOGY

1 Machine Learning Algorithms: Utilizes classification models such as Naïve

Bayes, Support Vector Machines (SVM), Decision Trees, and Random Forest
for accurate and scalable spam detection.

2 Natural Language Processing (NLP) Tools:Implements NLTK, spaCy, and

Scikit-learn for text preprocessing, including tokenization, stemming,
lemmatization, and feature extraction from message content.

3 Data Processing Libraries:Uses Pandas and NumPy for efficient data

cleaning, manipulation, and handling of missing or noisy entries within message
datasets.

4 Visualization Tools: Employs Matplotlib, Seaborn, and WordCloud to

explore word frequencies, class distributions, and key patterns in spam vs. ham
messages.

5 Model Evaluation Techniques: Assesses performance using metrics such as

Accuracy, Precision, Recall, F1-Score, and Confusion Matrix to validate
classifier effectiveness and minimize false detections.

6 Vectorization and Feature Engineering: Applies TF-IDF, Count

Vectorizer, and custom feature extraction (e.g., message length, number of links
or capital letters) to convert text into meaningful numeric features for
classification.

7 Deployment Framework: Supports real-time detection through integration

with Flask, FastAPI, or Streamlit, allowing users to input messages and instantly
receive spam/ham predictions via web interface or API.
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Intelligent Spam Detection Using Machine Learning

2.3 EXISTING SYSTEM

 Basic Filters: Current systems often use simple keyword filters that can be easily
tricked by spammers.
 Blacklists: Some systems block known spam sources, but spammers can quickly
change their tactics, making this method less effective.
 User Reports: Many systems depend on users to report spam, which can cause
delays in detecting new spam.
 Inaccurate Results: Current systems can mistakenly mark real messages as spam
or miss actual spam.
 Hard to Adapt: Traditional methods don’t always keep up with changing spam
techniques and trends.

2.4 NEW SYSTEM

 Machine Learning Models: Use advanced machine learning algorithms like

Naive Bayes to classify messages accurately.

 Automated Detection: Automatically detect spam messages based on patterns in

text data, reducing reliance on manual input.

 Continuous Learning: The model improves over time by learning from new data,
staying up-to-date with evolving spam tactics.

 Text Preprocessing: Clean and preprocess message content to better understand

context and detect spam more efficiently.

 Higher Accuracy: Aim for better classification accuracy, reducing false positives
and false negatives in spam detection.

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Intelligent Spam Detection Using Machine Learning

 The dataset contains 5352 ham messages and 1749 spam messages, making a total
of 7101 messages.

2.5 MODEL DESIGN

 Loaded the dataset (spam.csv) using pandas.

 Renamed columns for clarity (v1 → target, v2 → text).

 Encoded the target labels (ham → 0, spam → 1).

 Checked for missing and duplicate values, then removed duplicates.

 Calculated message lengths, word counts, and sentence counts.

 Visualized class distribution (imbalanced dataset).

 Used word clouds and frequency distributions for common words in spam
and ham messages.

 Converted text to lowercase.

 Tokenized text using NLTK.

 Removed stop words and punctuation.

 Applied stemming.

 Used TF-IDF Vectorization (with max features=3000).

 Split the dataset into training (80%) and testing (20%) sets.

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2.6 WORKFLOW

Fig.NO.1

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Intelligent Spam Detection Using Machine Learning

3.LITERATURE SURVEY
1. Spam Detection Using Machine Learning and Topic Modeling (Published in
2023)
 The study "Effective Spam Detection with Machine Learning" explores how
different machine learning algorithms detect spam messages, with a unique
approach using topic modeling (LDA) to find hidden patterns. Among the
tested models, Logistic Regression performed best with an F-score of 0.986,
followed by Support Vector Machine (0.98) and Naive Bayes (0.955). The
research highlights that Logistic Regression is the most effective in spam
detection, helping improve digital security and risk management on
communication platforms.

2. A Comprehensive Review on Email Spam Classification using Machine

Learning Techniques (Published in 2021)
 In the paper "A Comprehensive Review on Email Spam Classification
using Machine Learning Techniques," authors Rajalakshmi, G., and Vasuki,
R. review various machine learning algorithms and email features used in
spam classification. The study focuses on techniques like Naive Bayes,
SVM, and Random Forest, analyzing their performance across different
datasets. It emphasizes the significance of feature selection and
preprocessing to improve classification accuracy.

3. Spam Sms Classifier Using Machine Learning (Published in 2024)

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Intelligent Spam Detection Using Machine Learning

 The paper "Spam SMS Classifier Using Machine Learning Algorithms" by

Harshit Kumar Simbal, Aaryan Sharma, Smriti Kumari, Gautam Kumar,
and Harshvardhan Kumar focuses on improving SMS spam detection using
machine learning models like Naïve Bayes, Random Forest, KNN, and
Support Vector Classifier. Using a dataset from the UCI repository, the
study evaluates performance based on accuracy, precision, and recall,
with results compared through visualization techniques.

4. Improving Spam Detection with Preprocessing and Machine Learning

(Published in 2024)
 The paper explores how text preprocessing improves spam detection
accuracy using machine learning models like NB, SVM, and RF. RF with
stemming achieved the highest accuracy, 99.2% on SpamAssassin and
99.3% on Enron datasets. Their method also improved Yahoo email spam
detection from 89.82% to 97.28%. The study highlights preprocessing as a
key factor in effective spam classification.

5. Email spam detection by deep learning models using novel feature

selection technique and BERT (Published in 2024)
 The paper explores email spam detection using advanced feature selection
and deep learning models like BERT. The proposed GWO-BERT method
achieved 99.14% accuracy on the Lingspam dataset using CNN,
biLSTM, and LSTM. This study highlights the impact of feature selection
and deep learning in improving spam detection. The findings emphasize
BERT's role in enhancing classifier accuracy.

6. Paper on Spam Email Detection with Classification Using Machine

Learning (Published in 2022)
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Intelligent Spam Detection Using Machine Learning

 The paper explores spam email detection using machine learning and bio-
inspired optimization techniques. Models like Naïve Bayes, SVM,
Random Forest, Decision Tree, and MLP were tested on seven different
datasets. The study found that Multinomial Naïve Bayes with Genetic
Algorithm performed best. Feature extraction, pre-processing, and
classifier optimization played a crucial role in improving spam detection
accuracy.

7. Spam Detection Using Bidirectional Transformers and Machine

Learning Classifier Algorithms (Published in 2023)
 The paper "Spam Detection Using Bidirectional Transformers and
Machine Learning Classifier Algorithms" by Yanhui Guo, Zelal
Mustafaoglu, and Deepika Koundal was published in 2023 in the Journal
of Computational and Cognitive Engineering. It explores spam email
detection using BERT and machine learning classifiers. The study finds
that logistic regression achieves the best classification performance on two
public datasets.

8. Paper on Spam Email Detection with Classification Using Machine

Learning (Published in 2022)
 The paper "An Intelligent Model of Email Spam Classification"
discusses the dangers of email spam and the importance of effective spam
detection. It explores various machine learning algorithms like Bayesian
classification, k-NN, ANNs, and SVMs for filtering spam emails. The
study highlights how NLP techniques improve spam classification by
analyzing stylistic features and common terms. Performance comparisons
using the Spam Assassin dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of these
methods in spam detection.
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Intelligent Spam Detection Using Machine Learning

9. Paper on Spam Email Detection with Classification Using Machine

Learning (Published in 2024)
 The paper "Analysis of Naïve Bayes Algorithm for Email Spam Filtering
across Multiple Datasets" examines the ongoing challenge of email spam
and the effectiveness of spam filtering techniques. It specifically focuses on
the Naïve Bayes algorithm and evaluates its performance on two datasets:
Spam Data and SPAMBASE. The study utilizes the WEKA tool to assess
the algorithm's accuracy, recall, precision, and F-measure. The results
indicate that the type of emails and the dataset size significantly influence
the Naïve Bayes algorithm's performance in spam detection.

10. Spam Email Detection Using Naïve Bayes and Support Vector
Machines: A Comparative Analysis (Published in 2025)
 The paper "Enhancing Spam Filtering: A Comparative Study of Modern
Advanced Machine Learning Techniques" was published in 2025. It
evaluates spam filtering using Naïve Bayes (NB), Decision Trees (DT), and
Support Vector Machines (SVM) on a Kaggle dataset. The results show
that NB achieved 87.4% precision but had a high false negative rate
(28.7%). Combining NB with SVM improved accuracy to 94.4%, reducing
false negatives. The study highlights the need for adaptive spam filtering to
counter evolving spam tactics.

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Intelligent Spam Detection Using Machine Learning

4.DATA COLLECTION

4.1 Description of Data

Data Type: Text Data collected to identify and training purpose.

Text (Message content)
Categorical (Spam or Ham)

4.2 DATA SOURCES

Data Sources:
Sources: Dataset Downloaded from https://www.kaggle.com
Tags: Labels used to categorize different types of user
inquiries (e.g., “spam," “ham”).

Responses: The Device suggested replies based on

recognized text intents as in textbox.

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Intelligent Spam Detection Using Machine Learning

5.METHODOLOGY
5.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE ANALYTICAL METHODS
AND TECHNIQUES USED

• Data Cleaning: Unnecessary columns were removed, and column names

were renamed for clarity. The Target column was encoded into numerical
values (0 for ham and 1 for spam) using Label Encoder. Duplicate entries
(403 rows) were eliminated to improve data quality and prevent bias.
• Text Preprocessing: All text was converted to lowercase, tokenized, and
cleaned by removing stopwords and punctuation. Stemming was applied
to reduce words to their root forms for consistency. Word clouds and
frequency analysis highlighted common words in spam and ham
messages.
• Text Vectorization: Text was transformed into numerical format using
Bag of Words (BoW) and Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency
(TF-IDF). BoW counted word occurrences, while TF-IDF assigned
importance to words. These methods prepared data for machine learning
models.

5.2 Algorithms or Models Applied

• Naive Bayes Classifier: The Multinomial Naive Bayes algorithm was

applied, which is well-suited for text classification tasks. It works on the
principle of Bayes' Theorem and assumes that word occurrences are
independent. The model performed efficiently on spam detection by
leveraging word frequency probabilities.
• Multinomial Naïve Bayes (MNB): Designed for text classification tasks using
word frequency distributions.
.

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Intelligent Spam Detection Using Machine Learning

5.3 JUSTIFICATION FOR THE CHOSEN METHODS

• The selection of Naïve Bayes (NB) for spam email detection is based on their
proven effectiveness in spam classification, as highlighted in the research paper
"Enhancing Spam Filtering: A Comparative Study of Modern Advanced Machine
Learning Techniques" (2025). According to the study, while NB achieved 87.4%
precision, it exhibited a relatively high false negative rate (28.7%), potentially
allowing more spam emails to bypass filtering. However, when combined with
SVM, the classification accuracy significantly improved to 94.4%, effectively
reducing false negatives

• The selection of Naïve Bayes (NB) for spam email detection is justified due to its
simplicity, computational efficiency, and historically strong performance in spam
classification tasks. As reported in the 2025 research paper "Enhancing Spam
Filtering: A Comparative Study of Modern Advanced Machine Learning
Techniques," NB demonstrated a precision of 87.4%. However, it also exhibited a
relatively high false negative rate of 28.7%, meaning a significant number of spam
emails were incorrectly classified as legitimate. To address this limitation, Support
Vector Machine (SVM) was introduced as a complementary method.

• When NB was integrated with SVM in a hybrid model, the classification accuracy
improved markedly to 94.4%, with a corresponding increase in precision and a
notable reduction in false negatives. This combination capitalized on NB’s
efficiency in probabilistic classification and SVM’s strength in handling high-
dimensional feature spaces, resulting in a more robust spam detection system.
• Given these improvements in both accuracy and precision, the current model
demonstrates effective real-world applicability. However, before discussing the
future scope, it is essential to consider the evolving nature of spam tactics and the
need for continuous model updates and retraining to maintain high performance.

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6 OUTPUT SCREEN/ RESULTS AND

EVALUATION

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Intelligent Spam Detection Using Machine Learning

7 FUTURE SCOPE
 Integration with Communication Platforms
The spam detection model can be integrated into popular email services, messaging
apps, and social media platforms to provide seamless and real-time spam filtering.
This would enhance digital communication security and user experience across
various channels.

 Multilingual and Cross-Platform Support

The current implementation may focus on English-language datasets, but future
development can expand to support multiple languages and formats (emails, SMS,
social media posts), increasing its applicability across global and diverse user bases.

 Context-Aware Detection
Advanced versions of the system can incorporate context-aware techniques that
analyze user behavior, conversation flow, and message intent, making spam detection
more intelligent and reducing false positives.

 Adversarial Spam Defense

As spam techniques evolve, implementing adversarial machine learning methods can
strengthen the model’s ability to detect and adapt to new and obfuscated spam
strategies, improving resilience against sophisticated attacks.

 Real-Time Adaptive Learning

The system can be enhanced with online learning capabilities that allow it to update in
real time based on new data and feedback. This would keep the model relevant and
effective in the face of rapidly changing spam patterns.

 Explainable AI Integration
Incorporating explainable AI methods such as LIME or SHAP can offer transparency
into the model’s decision-making process, helping users and administrators
understand why specific messages are flagged as spam.

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8 BIBLIOGRAPHY / REFERENCES

 Anonymous. (2023). Effective Spam Detection with Machine Learning and

Topic Modeling. [Published study].

 Rajalakshmi, G., & Vasuki, R. (2021). A Comprehensive Review on Email

Spam Classification using Machine Learning Techniques.

 Simbal, H. K., Sharma, A., Kumari, S., Kumar, G., & Kumar, H. (2024).
Spam SMS Classifier Using Machine Learning Algorithms.

 Anonymous. (2024). Improving Spam Detection with Preprocessing and

Machine Learning.

 Anonymous. (2024). Email Spam Detection by Deep Learning Models

Using Novel Feature Selection Technique and BERT.

 Anonymous. (2022). Spam Email Detection with Classification Using

Machine Learning.

 Guo, Y., Mustafaoglu, Z., & Koundal, D. (2023). Spam Detection Using
Bidirectional Transformers and Machine Learning Classifier Algorithms.

 Anonymous. (2022). An Intelligent Model of Email Spam Classification.

International Journal of Cybersecurity and Information Science,
[Volume(Issue)], pp.

 Anonymous. (2024). Analysis of Naïve Bayes Algorithm for Email Spam

Filtering across Multiple Datasets.

 Anonymous. (2025). Enhancing Spam Filtering: A Comparative Study of

Modern Advanced Machine Learning Techniques

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19