Provide a way for users to verify their identity and add a blue checkmark next to the name of members with verified identities
planned
Scott Hughes
This will help prevent duplicate and fake accounts, especially from scammers or those attempting to dishonestly get around a ban or account limitation. For instance, someone who gets banned from the Review Team for plagiarism will often simply create a new account so they can submitting plagiarized reviews to get paid (i.e. scam us and steal money from us).
Likewise, it's common for a single scammer to create tons of new accounts on the website (i.e. "duplicate accounts) and submit many fake reviews each day, with the potential to steal practically infinite money from us.
While I don't support making it so all reviewers or members are absolutely required to verify their identity, what I would want to do is offer expedited payouts and similar rewards to those who are verified. Namely, such members can be exempt from most of limitation put in place to weed out scammers and fake/duplicate accounts.
The steps to verify an identity would ideally include all of the following:
- Email address verification (I believe this is already required for Review Team Members)
- User must provide their full legal name, their legal address (no P.O. boxes), and their birth date.
- Photo ID Upload (Require name, birthday, and mailing address to match what we have recorded in database).
- Phone number verification by being sent an SMS with a code. (Requiring two-factor authentication for login for verified members would be ideal.)
- Mailing address verification by being sent a code via postal mail.
In order to avoid unnecessary cost of sending texts and postal letters, I suggest doing the verifications in the specific order listed above such that one cannot move onto the next step until the first one has been completed. For example, before we would spend the cost to postal mail a user a letter with a secret we would first have verified their name address via their photo ID.
Amy Jackson
I like the idea of a checkmark to show a user has been verified. I think all those that have already been verified vis Stripe can go ahead and get the checkmark rather than redoing the verification process again.
Lauren Stjohn
I have just received an email from Facebook that my info has been shared with Canny. Now what do I do?
Stephanie Runyon
This could be problematic for certain IDs. I have a Cherokee photo ID- it shows my name at birth, which is not identical to my FB account and Reviewer name. Registered Cherokee Nation members are unable to change the name on the card. I am unable to drive due to sight impairment, so I don't have any other need for identification. In regards to this, perhaps a picture of the person holding the id card or a picture of the person and a picture of the id card so that the pictures can be determined as the same person could resolve this.
John Owen Ogada
@ Scott Hughes
"- Photo ID Upload (Require name, birthday, and mailing address to match what we have recorded in database)."
This will be problematic. Take Kenyan IDs... The address on the ID is always the address where the applicant was born, or in certain situations, where the ID was picked, and not the actual residential address of the person. For me, I live in a different place from the place indicated on the ID (which is typically my birth place). I'm on campus, and I'm pretty sure I'll move somewhere else when I graduate and start working.
When I filled in my profile, I filled the address of where I am, or where I would easily access in case I relocate. Therefore, it'll certainly not match what's on the ID. And I'm pretty sure I was asked for my
residential address
and not what is indicated on the ID.Here's my suggestion: require reviewers to submit a picture, screenshot, or PDF of bills or receipts, like water or electricity bills, or bank statements, that indicate the address of the holder, and whose name on those receipts should at least match those of the ID submitted on OBC, as proof of residence. Upwork, Fiverr, and forex brokers I use use this as their go-to KYC for proof of residence. This should save the mailing money and the complications that come with it.
Scott Hughes
planned
Odalis Aiza
I hope this will be implemented soon. Speaking of postal addresses, I've noticed something interesting. Some reviewers submit purchase verifications with a billing address in the US, but their IP addresses are in Lagos. Why is this, I wonder? I checked the posts of one of these, which showed that they had submitted three reviews in a day, i.e. they were taking just a couple of hours to read full-length books. I find this picture highly suspicious. They also changed their name to match said Amazon account with billing address - I wonder if they just have an "accomplice" in the US? If so, that person would be able to verify a code sent by mail, of course.
Scott Hughes Why not verify all reviewers? Or if you really don't want to, maybe make Level 6 available only to those who are verified.
Jane Melissa
Odalis Aiza: Hi,
I think some people have billing addresses in the US because some Amazon policies do not allow people outside of the US to enjoy some services. For instance, you cannot subscribe to Kindle unlimited or receive Kindle gifts unless you are in the US. This, in my opinion, is the main reasons why some people have a US billing address. I, for example, have changed my Amazon account to reflect that I'm in the US because I use Kindle unlimited. I do not think Amazon consider this a fraud since I learned how to change my country from Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201248840#:~:text=Go%20to%20Manage%20Your%20Content,you%20transfer%20your%20Amazon%20account.)
I hope this explains the different billing addresses.
Kirsi C
I have been surprised about the number of scammers around here, and I do like this idea for most parts. The only thing that I think might prove difficult (and expensive) to execute is sending a code via postal mail. OnlineBookClub has members around the world, so that is going to be a whole lot of letters, probably some of them mailed back and forth and getting lost along the way. I am sorry, but I do feel a bit skeptical about this part of the plan.
Odalis Aiza
Kirsi C: They are legion. Legion.
Odalis Aiza
I think this will help a lot in combating scammers. As you may have noticed, many of our users use VPNs so that a lot of duplicate IP addresses occur on the one hand, and any individual posts from a different IP address every time on the other. I think they use VPNs so that they can access PayPal and the US Amazon site, while not really in the US.
I hope that we can continue to have a username of our choice once verified, though.