Honest comparison · Updated June 2026
GACS vs MaxMind
They're different categories of tool that sometimes show up in the same searches. MaxMind sells GeoIP2 (IP-to-location databases) and minFraud (transaction-risk scoring) to businesses. GACS is a free consumer tool for checking whether a website, wallet, or social account is a scam. Here's how to pick the right one in 30 seconds.
free and ad-free
No signup
No wallet connection
No ad-tracking
The 30-second answer
Pick GACS if you're a person
You got a suspicious DM, found a too-good investment site, were asked to send crypto, or want to check if a vendor or freelancer is legit. GACS returns a verdict in 2 seconds — free, no signup.
Pick MaxMind if you're a business
You need to geo-route traffic, localize content, score payment risk at checkout, or feed an analytics pipeline with country/ISP/ASN. MaxMind's GeoIP2 and minFraud are the category standards for that work.
They don't really overlap — different category of tool entirely. People only land on both because “is this a scam” queries sometimes surface fraud-API vendors alongside consumer tools.
What MaxMind actually does
MaxMind is one of the original IP-intelligence companies. Their two flagship products:
- GeoIP2 — IP-to-location databases mapping an IP to country, city, ISP, ASN, connection type, and anonymizer signals. Sold as a hosted API or a downloadable binary database with daily/weekly updates.
- minFraud — transaction-risk API for checkout pipelines. Takes order details (email, billing/shipping, payment metadata, IP) and returns a risk score with itemized signals (IP risk, email risk, BIN-mismatch, velocity).
Free GeoLite2 databases exist for testing, and minFraud has a small free trial, but the real product is the paid subscription used by e-commerce platforms, fintech, ad-tech, and content companies. None of it is designed to answer the question a regular person has: “is this specific website or wallet trying to scam me?”
What GACS actually does
GACS — Global Anti-Crime & Safety — is a free, ad-free, donation-funded scam registry built for individuals. Paste an entity (website, crypto wallet, social handle, phone, email) and GACS returns a traffic-light verdict, the signals that drove it (registration age, blacklist hits, mirror cluster, on-chain links, community reports), and a one-click path to report a new scam.
GACS is entity-centric, not IP-centric — which is what you actually want when you're trying to figure out whether something is a scam. Coverage spans domains, crypto wallets (ETH, BTC, SOL, TRON, BSC), social accounts on X / Instagram / TikTok / Telegram, phone numbers, and email addresses.
Full feature comparison
| Feature | GACS | MaxMind |
|---|---|---|
Primary use case | Consumer scam check (is this site / wallet / handle a scam?) | B2B IP intelligence + transaction risk (where is this IP, is this payment risky?) |
Who it's for | Anyone — victims, families, journalists, investigators | Fraud, payments, ad-tech, and geo-routing engineering teams |
Pricing for an individual | free and ad-free, no signup | Free GeoLite2 + limited minFraud trial; production is paid |
Funding model | Donation-funded public-safety project | Commercial SaaS + data subscriptions |
Checks a domain / website for scam signals | Yes — registration age, blacklist, scam reports, mirror clusters | No — IP-only |
Checks a crypto wallet | Yes — ETH, BTC, SOL, TRON, BSC; on-chain + report graph | No |
Checks a social account (X, Instagram, TikTok, Telegram) | Yes — free, with shareable verdict pages | No |
IP geolocation (country, city, ISP, ASN) | No | Yes — GeoIP2 is the category standard |
Transaction / payment risk scoring | No | Yes — minFraud is purpose-built for this |
Downloadable database for self-hosting | No — service is hosted | Yes — GeoIP2 binary database + monthly updates |
Public scam-report database | Yes — crowdsourced + verified, public per-entity pages | No public registry |
Real-time API for production apps | Free public lookup + lightweight read API | Yes — paid, designed for production scale |
Free embeddable trust badge for vendors | Yes — live SVG that flips red if your domain is reported | No |
Ads / sponsored placements on result pages | None | None on the free demo |
Time to first answer | ≈ 2 seconds, no signup | ≈ 2 seconds for the free demo; days to integrate minFraud properly |
Based on publicly documented features as of June 2026. Anything out of date? Email hello@gacs.app and we'll correct it within 24 hours.
Which one do you actually need?
I want to check if a website is a scam before I buy / invest / send money.
→ GACS
MaxMind doesn't classify websites at all — it maps the IP behind a site to a location. GACS analyses the domain itself.
A stranger asked me to send crypto to this wallet — is it safe?
→ GACS
Paste the address into the GACS wallet checker. MaxMind has no on-chain coverage.
Someone DMed me on Instagram / TikTok / X — is the account real?
→ GACS
GACS social-scanner returns a free shareable verdict page. MaxMind doesn't analyse social accounts.
I run an e-commerce store and need to score every checkout for fraud.
minFraud was built exactly for this. GACS doesn't score payment transactions.
I need to localize content by country or block traffic from certain regions.
GeoIP2 is the category standard. GACS doesn't do IP geolocation.
I'm worried a family member is being scammed online.
→ GACS
Use the social-scanner and share the verdict page — designed to be sent in a chat without an accusation.
I'm a vendor and want a public 'verified, no scam reports' badge on my site.
→ GACS
Free live trust badge that flips red automatically if your domain is ever reported. MaxMind doesn't offer this.
When to use both together
If you're running a fraud team at a marketplace or financial platform, the stack actually looks like this:
- MaxMind minFraud (or IPQS/Scamalytics) at checkout — score the IP, the email, the payment.
- GACS lookup on every entity the user mentions or links to — wallets, social handles, sites — to catch known scam actors before they convert other users.
- Report back to GACS when you confirm a fraudster so the next platform sees the warning.
Where GACS wins outright
- free and ad-free for consumers — no paywall on any check.
- Covers domains, wallets, social, phone, email — not just IPs.
- Public scam-report registry with per-entity pages indexed by Google.
- Multi-chain crypto coverage with on-chain link tracing.
- Free embeddable trust badge for honest vendors.
- Donation-funded — no incentive to upsell a paid tier.
Where MaxMind wins outright
- IP-to-location accuracy at country, city, ISP, ASN.
- Downloadable binary database for self-hosted lookups.
- minFraud transaction-risk scoring tuned for checkout.
- Two decades of IP intelligence data.
- Established integrations with e-commerce + payment stacks.
Try GACS in 10 seconds
Paste any URL, wallet address, social handle, or phone number. Get a verdict in two seconds — free, no signup, no wallet prompt, no ad tracking.
Frequently asked questions
Is GACS a free MaxMind alternative?
Only for consumer use cases. MaxMind sells IP intelligence and payment-risk APIs to businesses; GACS is a free consumer scam checker. They're different categories of tool — pick GACS if you're a person checking something, pick MaxMind if you're building geo/fraud pipelines in production.
Is MaxMind free?
Free GeoLite2 databases (lower-accuracy GeoIP2) exist for testing, and minFraud has a tiny trial. Production usage of GeoIP2 or minFraud is a paid subscription.
Is GACS really free, or is there a paid tier?
All public scam checks on GACS are free and ad-free, no signup. Funded by donations and an optional fraud-investigator certifications program — never by gating consumer safety tools.
Can GACS geolocate an IP address?
No. GACS does entity-level checks (domain, wallet, social handle, phone, email). For IP-to-location mapping, MaxMind GeoIP2, IPQS, or Scamalytics are the right tools.
Which is better for checking if a website is a scam?
GACS. MaxMind doesn't classify websites at all. GACS analyses the domain: registration age, blacklist history, scam reports, mirror clusters, and on-chain wallet links if crypto is involved.
Does GACS connect to my crypto wallet?
Never. You can paste a wallet address to check it, but GACS never requests a wallet connection. We can't sign or move funds, ever.
What about Scamalytics, IPQualityScore, Scamadviser, Chainabuse?
We have honest comparisons against each: /vs/scamalytics, /vs/ipqualityscore, /vs-scamadviser, /vs/chainabuse.
Related
Authoritative sources
Independent primary sources used to check and corroborate the guidance on this page.
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)Official US channel for reporting internet-enabled fraud and cybercrime.
US Federal Trade Commission — ReportFraudConsumer fraud reporting and published enforcement data.
UK Report FraudUK national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime.
Canadian Anti-Fraud CentreCanada's central repository for fraud reports and scam alerts.