How can we help new people arriving in a location from contracting the services of individuals who are known by the local residents to be dishonest?
Time and time again one wonders how dishonest people can continue to prosper. In large cities or more densely populated areas one of the key factors is a continuous influx of new people wanting to do business of some sort, buying properties, contracting services or purchasing products. These new people arrive without enough knowledge about their destination and the people conducting business there, something less scrupulous residents greedily exploit.
In these places there are simply too many people for word to spread quickly enough so that new people can be forewarned of whom you might not want to do business with. “Buffers” such as company names or Internet pages contribute to a certain anonymity of the people behind them. So does the non-transparency of the judicial system, inaccessibility of criminal records and laws that in practice prohibit naming & shaming.
Instead of naming & shaming, here on Can-I-Trust-You.com we have decided to flip things around and instead reward the people who can be trusted.
In a very simple way, by registering voluntarily on the page (you can of course at any time instantly delete your profile), you make it possible for other people to rate your trustworthiness. Honest people will be rewarded with higher ratings. Everyone starts with the highest rating!
If you do not see a person you are going to do business with on the page, you should definitely ask them to register. If they don’t want to, perhaps you should ask yourself why…
