Since launching Troovo, we've banned 21 accounts for scam activity. That number will keep growing, and we're fine with that.

Running a marketplace means running a constant filter. Scammers show up. They always do. The question is what you do about it.

The Incentive Problem

On most platforms, the incentive structure works against users. More accounts means more activity. More activity means more page views. More page views means more ad revenue. A fake listing that gets reported after three days still generated impressions for three days. From a business perspective, that's not entirely bad for them.

We don't run ads. We don't profit from fake activity. Every scammer on Troovo costs us server resources and support time while providing nothing in return. Our incentives align with yours: keep the platform clean.

What We Actually Do

Community reporting with visible warnings. We encourage users to flag suspicious posts. When a listing gets reported, it immediately shows a yellow warning triangle in the corner and admins are notified. Buyers see the flag and can proceed with caution. If your listing gets flagged incorrectly, provide proof and it won't be questioned again. The system is transparent — everyone can see when something is under review.

Identity verification through Stripe. Optional for users, but verified accounts get a badge. Stripe holds the identity documents, not us — this creates accountability without us becoming a data liability. We don't store your ID.

Datacenter IP blocking. Most legitimate users browse from home or mobile connections. Most automated attacks and fraud operations come from cloud servers and VPNs. We block them at the network level. The majority of non-residential Swiss IPs never reach our servers. This means our IP logs only contain real Swiss residential connections — actually useful data if something goes wrong.

Fast bans without mercy. When we identify a scammer, the account is gone. No appeals process for obvious fraud. No waiting period. The IP gets blacklisted. If they come back, they get blocked again.

No data harvesting. We collect what we need to run the platform and nothing more. No selling to advertisers. No third-party tracking. No data mining your messages.

Law enforcement cooperation. If authorities contact us about actual fraud, threats, or illegal activity, we cooperate. For verified accounts, Stripe has identity documents on file. Our IP logs are clean residential data. We're not building surveillance infrastructure, but we keep enough to protect users when it matters.

Technical security from day one. Our Mozilla Observatory score is 135 (A+). Our Lighthouse performance score is 93. We pass Core Web Vitals. These aren't vanity metrics — they reflect a platform built properly from the ground up.

The Tradeoff

We have fewer users than the big platforms. We're okay with that. We'd rather have 50 real users than 500 accounts where half are fake.

Scammers target marketplaces because trust is the whole game. Buyers trust that listings are real. Sellers trust that inquiries are genuine. Every fake account erodes that trust.

Our job is to protect it.

Report Suspicious Activity

If you see something suspicious on Troovo, flag it. We read every report. We act on them. And we won't apologize for keeping the ban count rising.