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Trust & safety at Vendly

A classifieds marketplace is a trust problem, not a CRUD problem. Here are six abuse vectors and what we do about each — try them live. Everything runs in this browser.

scam patterns
24
photo fingerprints
64-bit
rate limits
5
phone numbers in page HTML
0
Your median post time
…

Six abuse vectors

  • 01

    Number harvesting

    Threat
    Scrapers and spammers collect seller phone numbers in bulk.
    Mitigation
    Numbers never ship in page HTML. Reveal needs a verified phone, shows a safety step, and is capped at 10 per day.
    In production
    Server-issued reveal tokens, Redis sliding window per user + IP + device, masked-call proxy (Exotel) for high-volume categories.

    Try it

  • 02

    Advance-fee scams

    Threat
    "Pay ₹500 token / courier charges and I'll ship it."
    Mitigation
    24 scam-pattern rules score every listing and chat message; high scores are flagged in the chat itself and queued for moderators.
    In production
    Same rules server-side plus a text classifier trained on moderator decisions.

    Try it

  • 03

    Listing spam

    Threat
    One account floods a locality with near-identical ads.
    Mitigation
    Posting rate limits (2 per 10 min, 5 per day) and near-duplicate title detection.
    In production
    Redis token buckets keyed on phone + device fingerprint.

    Try it

  • 04

    Image reuse

    Threat
    Scammers lift photos from genuine listings.
    Mitigation
    64-bit perceptual hash (dHash) of every photo; near matches go to moderation with a side-by-side view.
    In production
    pHash in a queue worker on upload to R2, stored in Postgres, BK-tree index.

    Try it

  • 05

    Fake urgency

    Threat
    "Many buyers waiting, pay now or lose it."
    Mitigation
    Urgency phrases raise the scam score and trigger a "slow down" hint to the buyer.
    In production
    Same, plus throttling first-contact messages from new accounts.

    Try it

  • 06

    Off-platform payment pressure

    Threat
    Pressure to move to UPI links, QR codes or unknown apps before meeting.
    Mitigation
    QR-to-receive and payment-link patterns are flagged, and the safety notice is pinned at the top of every chat.
    In production
    Link unfurling with domain reputation checks.

    Try it

How Vendly compares

How Vendly compares with other classifieds
ProductDoes wellWhere trust leaksVendly
OLX IndiaCategory depth, in-app chat, option to hide phone numberSafety advice lives in help-centre articles, not at the point of contactWarning shown inside every chat and on the reveal-number dialog
Quikr1000+ cities; jobs, services and property in one app"Army officer" and "scan QR to receive money" scamsScam rules flag QR-to-receive and impersonation scripts in chat
Facebook MarketplaceReal-profile social proofCheap fake profiles; photos stolen from other listingsHonest profile signals plus perceptual hashing for reused photos
Society appsClosed community, high intentMarketplace is a side tab with minimal toolingLocality-first classifieds module with a real moderation queue
WhatsApp groupsZero frictionNo search, no expiry, no reporting; numbers visible to everyoneWhatsApp handoff only after a verified, rate-limited reveal

Roadmap

  • Saved-search alerts
  • Vernacular UI (Hindi, Kannada)
  • Verified sellers via Aadhaar-less KYC

Vendly is a portfolio demo by Virendra B. Listings, sellers and phone numbers are fictional.