Building Digital Trust: A Solution to Help Businesses Expand Their Markets

With the context of e-commerce and social networks growing rapidly in the Vietnamese market, it opens up opportunities to reach a wide range of customers but at the same time also entails many challenges regarding transparency, especially problems such as brand counterfeiting and online fraud which are becoming increasingly common, seriously affecting the reputation of businesses and the trust of consumers.

Businesses under pressure, consumers wary

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment , as of December 31, 2024, the country has nearly 1 million active businesses. Nearly 98% of these are small and medium-sized. A survey by the Vietnam E-commerce Association shows that 58% of businesses sell products via social networks and more than 24% participate in e-commerce platforms.

However, the downside of this development is the increase in sophisticated fraud schemes, posing risks to both customers and businesses, leaving many consequences.

Verify builds digital trust - prevents brand counterfeiting

The scammers' method of operation is to create fake websites and fan pages with names, logos and interfaces that are almost identical to reputable brands. They deliberately use domain names containing strange characters, spelling errors or post unusually attractive promotional content. The ultimate goal is to trick users into providing personal information or requesting access to malicious links, or even making payments to unofficial accounts.

A typical example is the recent incident where SYBSY Fashion Company - the owner of many online fashion brands such as: SHE by Hoa Nguyen (SBHN), Ma Chérie, SOYOUNG, HITR and SBHN FnG - discovered that its SBHN brand fanpage had its entire content copied by bad actors to impersonate it, run fraudulent ads to trick customers into transferring deposits and then appropriating it.

According to the business representative, the fake fanpage has the same name, profile picture, content and contact information as the official fanpage of the SBHN brand. They copied everything from the hotline, store address to the introduction content, product photos and promotional posts. Even the new posts on the real fanpage were updated by the fake side immediately after. The incident caused some customers to "put their trust in the wrong place" and become victims of fraud with the deposit amount of up to more than 20 million VND for the subjects on the fake page.

What gives the unit a headache is that the fake pages are "sophisticated and professional" when using fanpages with blue ticks - a factor that makes many consumers trust. Advertisements on fake fanpages often offer "shocking" prices, only 1/10 of the original price, along with an invitation to transfer a deposit to hold the goods. However, after customers transfer money, these subjects immediately block communication.

The only difference is that the real fanpage has a high number of followers (450,000), many comments and interactions from real customers, while the fake fanpage has very few or no comments.

In Khanh Hoa province, Mr. Nguyen Minh Hieu - CEO of Hoan My Company Limited with Hon Co Resort and Hoan My Resort systems had to personally post a correction notice on his personal page to warn customers about the appearance of a fake fanpage "Hoan My Resort Ninh Chu" operating with information that is 90% similar to the real fanpage from name to slogan and related information content, only differing in a small detail in the use of representative images.

Mr. Hieu said: "Fake brand pages to sell services that we provide not only affect the interests of customers but also seriously damage the reputation and business operations of the enterprise."

Obviously, the consequence of the above incidents is that consumers are increasingly “cautious” with information posted online, while many legitimate businesses suffer damage to their reputation and lose cooperation opportunities. According to many surveys, up to 30-40% of businesses are at risk of brand counterfeiting.

Transparency - a key factor in competition

In the context of the Government promoting digital transformation, transparency has become a key factor for businesses to affirm their reputation. Existing forms of verification such as the blue tick on fanpages, business profiles on Google or the Ministry of Industry and Trade registration symbol and even trusted website certification, although partly supporting businesses to increase their credibility, still have certain limitations.

For example, Google Business Profiles only apply to entities with public locations; verified fanpages are still at risk of being impersonated with similar names; while the Ministry of Industry and Trade registration process takes time and is only suitable for complete e-commerce websites. Network Trust Certificates help protect the website environment but do not cover social media channels, applications or sales collaborator systems.

Trust does not form on its own, but needs to be built through a transparent, clear authentication mechanism with the participation of independent intermediaries. When businesses, consumers and supporting organizations participate in this process, the digital market will have a solid foundation for long-term development. Clearly, the market is in dire need of an independent, objective, multi-channel verification solution with legal value and the ability to protect businesses in real time.

Verify.vn New rookie in the field of information verification in Vietnam

Recently, the Vietnamese market welcomed a “new member” in the field of information verification – the Verify.vn platform. This system is introduced as a tool to support businesses and individuals in verifying information based on legal grounds, while monitoring and protecting brands on many different online channels.

According to the developer representative, Verify.vn aims to overcome the limitations of existing solutions by: Applying to both online and offline businesses, not depending on a single platform; quick legal verification in just 1-2 days, even just a few hours. At the same time, warning of counterfeit risks in real time. The platform also supports small businesses and business households, individual businesses - groups of people who often have difficulty accessing traditional forms of certification.

Verify multi-channel, transparent, independent verification

Not only a business identity verification tool, Verify.vn is also a multi-channel brand reputation monitoring and protection platform, suitable for modern digital business trends, where models such as livestream, social commerce, and online agencies thrive - something that traditional verification platforms have not been able to meet.

In the first week of its launch, Verify.vn signed a cooperation agreement with the Ninh Thuan - Khanh Hoa Startup Club to support hundreds of local businesses in verifying information, thereby expanding market access. The unit also joined the Ninh Thuan Tourism Association to sign a cooperation agreement on the online business verification project - Verify.vn within the framework of the press conference launching the contest "Beautiful photos, impressive videos about southern Khanh Hoa in 2025" organized by the Ninh Thuan Tourism Association in early August.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Vu, Chairman of Ninh Thuan Tourism Association said: The signing is an opportunity for us to increase transparency and enhance the reputation of tourism and service activities in the southern Khanh Hoa region. At the same time, it helps tourists avoid being scammed by websites when they want to travel to this region in the near future.

The future of the digital market in Vietnam not only depends on the speed of technological development, but also depends on building a sustainable business ecosystem where trust is the foundation and becomes a core value. In the context of increasingly sophisticated forms of fraud, the emergence of independent verification solutions such as Verify.vn is a positive signal, contributing to strengthening trust between businesses and consumers. When trust becomes a core asset, the Vietnamese digital market can truly develop strongly and sustainably.

Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/kinh-te/thong-tin-doanh-nghiep/202509/xay-dung-niem-tin-so-giai-phap-giup-doanh-nghiep-mo-rong-thi-truong-6be6292/