Users With Transparent PFPs

This feature evaluates the user's PFP and blocks the message if the ratio of the transparent and opaque pixels doesn't matchs the tolerance.

Scam Mechanics.

Before we start, just look at this message by Mr. Diamond, who is the server admin:

Did you notice anything that looks suspicious to you in this message? Probably not. And this is a problem! Because there are actually two messages from two different users!

In Discord, users can set up transparent PNG images for avatars, as well as use emojis instead of letters in their display names. And this is how the user profile can look as a result:

But if we inspect the source code via the developer console in the browser, we'll see that there is indeed another one PFP here - that very transparent PNG our Mr. Smart Guy set earlier for his account!

It is still a very popular scammer's trick! People in Discord are, in most cases, careless and relaxed, and can easily lower their guard and mistake such a message for a message from an administrator or a member of the project team.

Explanation of the Feature.

And this is where the Users With Transparent PFPs feature comes into action! It analyzes the user avatar if its ratio of the transparent and opaque pixels matches the tolerance, and if it doesn't, it blocks the message:

Depending on your Guard Settings, Bocto can also post a detailed alert to the #alerts channel it created during the setup on the server:

Sometimes, scammers even try to set the transparent PNG image with a small, barely visible grey opaque dot to trick the weak filters. However, Bocto uses a 40% tolerance barrier to determine and block scam PFPs, while allowing legit PFPs with some amount of transparent pixels.

PFP Types That This Feature Blocks.

Currently, the Users With Transparent PFP feature only reacts to PFP transparency. In the future, we will also add an analysis algorithm for Discord themes' colors.