Posted by Singapore, 5 February 2020 – Carousell, one of the world’s largest and fastest growing classifieds, today announced a 25% decline in share of the overall percentage of Singapore’s e-commerce scams, across the past year. This drop was achieved through continuous product and operational improvements, as well as an ongoing collaboration with the authorities.
In June 2018, Carousell launched its escrow payments system, CarouPay, which provides assurance to users by holding payment until a transaction is verified successful by both buyer and seller. Over the past two years, several improvements have been made to the escrow solution to ensure the best user experience. Two months ago, CarouPay was rebranded to Carousell Protection in order to intuitively educate users on its secure value proposition. In addition, all transactions made through Carousell Protection now require one-time passwords (OTP) from buyers, providing an additional layer of security for credit and debit card transactions.
Carousell has also enhanced the verification process for users and rolled out measures such as digital fingerprinting to tighten the account creation process. In June 2019, Carousell was the first marketplace platform to partner with Government Technology Agency (GovTech) to enable the verification of user profiles via MyInfo. Sellers who choose to verify their profile with their MyInfo data will receive a badge on their profile, helping buyers easily identify genuine users. Since June, more than 54,000 users have adopted the MyInfo verification process. These users have the added benefit of a 26% higher success rate in receiving chats for their listings. The verification process also allows Carousell to step in and assist with investigations more effectively, should an issue arise. To protect its community, Carousell alerts users who interact with any accounts under ongoing investigation.
In addition to dedicated improvements made to the marketplace, Carousell has been consistently working with authorities to actively educate its users, so that they can make informed decisions in their transactions. In collaboration with Singapore Police Force (SPF), Carousell broadcast targeted advisories during peak periods of event ticket sales. Made available at every touchpoint, from in-listing reminders to notifications, the advisories successfully decreased scams within Singapore Attractions, Events and Concerts by 47% since 2018. It also decreased fraudulent activity in listings involving Universal Studios Singapore’s (USS) Halloween Horror Nights tickets by a vast 72% in comparison to 2018.
“As a community-focused marketplace, education is a key piece to ensuring that users transact safely on our platform. We will continue to work proactively with the authorities to improve our marketplace in order to minimise and manage fraudulent activities. Improving our product and technology is a never-ending effort, and Carousell will continue to dedicate its resources and manpower into ensuring that its users can buy and sell with peace of mind,” said Su Lin Tan, Chief of Staff and Vice President of Operations, Carousell.
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About Carousell
Carousell is a classifieds marketplace that makes selling as easy as taking a photo, buying as simple as chatting. Launched in August 2012, Carousell began in Singapore and now has a presence in eight markets across Asia. With over 250 million listings, we are one of the world’s largest and fastest growing marketplaces in Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and are backed by Telenor Group, Rakuten Ventures, Sequoia India and Naspers. The Carousell marketplace has a diverse range of products across a variety of categories, including cars, lifestyle, gadgets and fashion accessories. Download the app for iOS or Android, and visit www.carousell.com for more information.
For further information, please contact press@thecarousell.com