PlanHub is a two-sided marketplace connecting subcontractors and general contractors for construction projects. It streamlines project discovery, bid management, and communication so builders can find trustworthy partners quickly.
What was the core trust & safety concern?
PlanHub is a platform for General Contractors to post job opportunities for subcontractors, with suppliers having access to both GC and subcontractor information.
Unfortunately, some "users" (both GCs and subcontractors) were harvesting emails and sending spam emails outside the platform, leading to negative online reviews and a frustrated customer cohort. PlanHub sought to balance its desire for a frictionless onboarding process with the trust and safety concerns of its marketplace.
What were they using beforehand? Why switch?
They used an MX record checker, but this was insufficient in detecting the repeat sign-ups and blocking non-target geographies.
How did Verisoul help?
Verisoul offered three key features that PlanHub needed:
- First, Verisoul checks email validity at sign-up, including deliverability, MX record status, and domain reputation. Domain reputation has been key for Planhub. Verisoul has a database on the reputation of 10M+ domains, and actively scrapes 100+ disposable domain sites daily. Furthermore, if Verisoul encounters a domain it hasn’t seen across its 100+ customers, it programmatically dispatches an AI agent to score the domain. With Verisoul, PlanHub can block disposable and temporary domains whose sole purpose is to scale fraud.
- Second, Verisoul offered robust network intelligence through a series of over a dozen active checks. Verisoul is able to identify both geo-location data and catch fraudsters who spoof their geo-location with proxies and VPNs. With Verisoul’s active checks, Planhub can differentiate between high quality and low-quality users, even when the users sign-up from the same IP. A fraudster spoofing from Nigeria to the US on a mobile IP gets blocked, whereas the subcontractor in the US on the same mobile IP signs up seamlessly.
- Third, Verisoul is the leading solution for device fingerprinting and multi-accounting. Verisoul can probabilistically cluster users via email, browser, device, and network data. The result of this clustering technique is increased ability to link users where traditional device fingerprints fail. The results have already been outstanding - for example, one fraud ring has been blocked by Verisoul >200 times.
What about multiaccounting in the construction industry? Don’t some users sign into the same device at the worksite?
PlanHub noticed that some of their users share devices at the worksite with their coworkers, a common practice in the construction space. Through Verisoul’s configurable multiaccounting settings, the Planhub team is able to set rules and thresholds to ensure real team members can continue to sign-up while fraud farms get blocked.
Since implementing Verisoul, PlanHub not only catching 11.3% more fraud, but has an extremely low false positive rate of 0.5%, meaning real users are able to sign-up while fraudsters get put in purgatory.
As a result of implementing Verisoul, Planhub is more confident than ever in the quality of their community as they continue to build a marketplace that their users can trust. It’s paid dividends with their customer base, and also given their investor confidence in the strength of the solution.
