[jesterson]

As weird as it sounds, it is still the best.

If we have centralised "licensing" solution it is abused by large capital to wash off smaller - there is plenty of examples.

If we have decentralised solution (which is basically what review is) - it is immediately abused by "marketers".

There is no simple and easy solution to the problem.

[BobbyJo]

IMO, the best solution to the problem is friction. Criminals are criminals because it's easy. If opening a fraudulent store is 90% as difficult as opening a legit one, no one is going to bother.

[Tiereven]

I see what you're saying: if you add more startup cost then it makes it harder for spammers without legitimate business interest to profit. I think I disagree, though. Legitimate "mom and pop" businesses experience all the pain of learning the process of setting up a store, creating real products and pricing, inventory, delivery etc. They don't need more friction.

These criminals on the other hand are likely automating everything and have the advantage of lessons learned from dozens of iterations.

The article indicated the mimic sites accept credit card numbers but don't actually process them -- to me that is the Achilles heel of the process. If credit card companies started requiring instantaneous verification of the card's actual use (via a card chip reader or an app on user's phone, for example) instead of allowing payment via static information vulnerable to replay at any time, I think that could do a lot more to improve security of online transactions than green check boxes.

[joshspankit]

There’s danger on the other side of this: Credit card companies are already stifling creators because of the power they have when CCs are the primary payment method. Additional security gives them a tighter grip.

[BizarroLand]

Computers with built in NFC readers could allow you to pay for your purchases with your phone and use fingerprint/passcode/faceID etc. for verification.

That would be convenient enough for most people that it's usable.

[sydbarrett74]

Organised criminal syndicates are behind most of these operations. They have immense resources from which to draw. It's another example of the saying, 'It takes money to make money.'

IOW, adding friction wouldn't be a sufficient deterrent. Criminals are resourceful, and enriching themselves further is a strong motivator.

[BizarroLand]

Aside from that, in today's online world, any time friction is added, people come along and make some grease for it. Making a storefront from scratch? Difficult! Using WooCommerce on Wordpress? So easy a sufficiently motivated 12 year old can figure it out.

If you add some system for site verification, first someone will make tooling to facilitate it and soon after someone will offer a service to provide it for you and in a matter of months these spam sites will be up and running just like they are now, only it will be more difficult for a legitimate newcomer to get started in the same arena.