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11 Ways to Make Your Online Presence More Trustworthy
As the unstoppable rise of internet fraudsters continues, customers are rightly becoming more suspicious of businesses they’ve found online.
Checkatrade Fraud: What is it and How Does it Affect Your Business?
In January 2025, the BBC’s Rip Off Britain programme exposed how several Checkatrade businesses had defrauded customers. With tales of thousands of pounds lost and little compensation, the safety and security of online trader marketplaces came sharply into focus.
In our article, we examine what happened, how it might affect your business and why a trustworthy online presence is important.
How did Checkatrade Businesses Defraud their Customers?
With over 40,000 registered businesses, Checkatrade is an online platform that helps consumers find local tradespeople and check their credentials. Customers can engage tradespeople through Checkatrade and leave reviews after the work is done. It also offers a ‘Checkatrade guarantee’ of up to £1,000 should the customer experience issues with their tradesperson.
In an episode aired on 21st January 2025, BBC’s Rip Off Britain revealed stories from customers who had used Checkatrade to find a tradesperson, only for them to disappear once the customer had transferred the funds. In one case, the customers lost nearly £30,000. The Checkatrade guarantee compensated them for less than 5% of their losses.
How Does It Affect Your Business?
Such fraudulent actions directly impact the customers’ pockets, but the erosion of trust has a knock-on effect for legitimate tradespeople too.
This is particularly true for businesses relying solely on platforms like Checkatrade to generate leads. The impacts include:
- A downturn in online leads: Customers become suspicious of online advertising and seek direct contact instead.
- Extra proof: Customers may require extra proof that you are a legitimate business should they be worried about fraud.
- Added scrutiny of your work: Customers become particularly eagle-eyed if they are not confident in you as a business, leading to (unfair) complaints.
The Importance of a Trustworthy Online Presence
The only way to combat the fraudsters is to demonstrate you are a legitimate and trustworthy business – this can be achieved by:
- Displaying accreditations on your website
- Soliciting and responding to reviews
- Publishing in local and trade magazines.
For more information on how to create a credible online presence, see our blog post: ‘How to Make Your Online Presence More Trustworthy’.
Checkatrade Fraudsters: Final Thoughts
Checkatrade and other online directories are vulnerable to fraudsters – this not only affects customers but your business too.
Advance Online is a digital marketing agency in Surrey that helps businesses prove their worth and get seen online. If you would like to know more, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
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Want to know more about how Advance Online can help your business attract more leads online?
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