Tightening security on the internet for trust

Have you ever been tricked out of your money, property, or inheritance while using the internet? Efforts to keep personal information safe, secure, private, and protect netizens against fraudulent attempts have been unrelenting in the last few years and progress has been gradually ramping up. Telegram, a popular encrypted messaging app, introduced a security feature some months back to help detect scammers on its platform. When a user reports a Telegram account for scam, and other users report the same account, the request is reviewed by the app’s support team and a SCAM label is placed next to the user’s profile name with a warning message added to the bio section of the profile as shown in the image below:

A similar thing was recently introduced by Facebook UK when it rolled out its anti-scam reporting tool that lets people expose misleading or scam ads by clicking the three dots (. . .) on the top right of an ad, selecting the ‘Report Ad‘ function, and then confirming that they want to send a detailed scam report. Twitter in Q3 also expanded its policies to prohibit money-swindling schemes allowing any user to point out a tweet and explain how it is suspicious or spreading spam.

THE EFFECTS OF FRAUD

Online scams are rampant on social media platforms. In 2017, the Better Business Bureau reported 45,811 scams in the United States, and in 2018 that number increased to 48,369 scams. Consumer Sentinel network, also found that 1 in 5 people lost money because of Imposter Scams in 2018. Young people from 20 to 29 years are the most affected, representing 40% of victims, since they are the biggest users of the internet. Scams can be extremely lucrative.

With identity fraud at record highs according to recent numbers from Javelin strategy, shared economy businesses that fail to establish methods to verify the identity of their users could face challenges of their own.

“Fraud affects users, sellers and platform reputation without distinction”

One of the key strengths of the shared economy business model is its ability to generate value, for both customers and businesses, at a relatively low cost. Ratings and reviews are a step in the right direction towards building trust, but with the rise of chatbots and fake reviews, these risk being as questionable as the underlying unidentified user. In fact, a recent report by Experian showed that consumers actually like protocols when they interact online as it makes them feel protected.

“Trust is a key battleground.”

The recent moves by major internet companies to combat cybercrime and demonstrate to the public their commitment to fraud prevention can be viewed as steps toward strengthening trust between the users and their respective platforms.

THE ESSENTIAL IMPORTANCE OF TRUST

There are just a few elemental forces that hold our world together. The one that’s the glue of society is called trust. Its presence cements relationships by allowing people to live, work together, and feel safe. Trust is a critical success factor for any business in the world today, but yet it has been on the decline for years.

“A world where trust is at the heart of the relationship allows unlimited opportunities.”

Trust takes a long time to build and retaining it requires transparent and consistent effort. High levels of trust create mutually beneficial extraordinary relationships where each person wants to do their best for the other.

TRUST IS THE MOST POWERFUL GLOBAL TOOL

Trust is completely free — and yet at the same time, it’s the thing for which you must work the hardest. Once you have it, it’s the most priceless thing you’ll ever own. Trust is measured by how we behave toward each other. Trust is the most powerful tool in the world, but it is also the most exploited. TrustSearch is here to fix this!

TrustUnion is an innovative project with the objective to contribute and help enhance the way people trust on the internet. TrustUnion aims to minimize the cost of building for trust in the digital world while enabling businesses to thrive and providing a safe and secure environment for consumers. TrustUnion’s first product, the worldwide trust search engine, ‘TrustSearch’ will provide consumers with the ability to search for merchants and assess their reputations across multiple internet marketplaces. Merchants will be able to use TrustSearch to manage all of the data that is available regarding their businesses, including reviews, ratings, and other reputation data. By managing this data, TrustSearch places it under the control of the merchants and thereby maximizes confidence rates and conversion.