Ease of P2P platform fraud?

This is a concern of mine as well.  How do we know the borrowers/loans/security really exist?  It does look rather easy to put together a fraudulent/scam offering.  Hopefully it isn't as easy as it might appear.

P.S. Our doors are always open. If you're ever near London Bridge, south of Tate Modern, pop in! I'll make you a cup of tea in a RateSetter mug.... Just to prove we are real!

Kevin.

Yes it will happen, as I have offered to prove to the Consumers Association/Which Magazine many many times when they espouse the use of https connections as a sign of security, it only takes a few hours to get webspace, a domain name, ssl certificates and even if you don't go as far as accepting money you can easily create a spoof website for harvesting credit/debit card details including CSV numbers and 3DS (verified by Visa) passwords and there is very little or nothing by way of security checks whilst you are doing it.

I don't think you will ever combat an effective ponzi scheme unless the FCA when auditing P2P sites actually go as far as physically interviewing borrowers as it is all to easy to acquire sufficient personal information to falsify computer records.

westonkevRS,
Am in a meeting until 11:30, will be there about 11:35 so please make sure the kettle is on. If ok I will take a photo of the ratesetter mug and post it here to quell the fears of the p2p conspiracy theorists on the site.

Happy to take a black coffee no sugar in preference to tea.

See you soon

I can offer evidence that Ratesetter Mugs do exist. Here is a screenshot showing that eleven of them have £767 invested and are asking for 99%pa interest (or more).
What worries me is that RS "transparency" does not extend to revealing exactly what interest those top six are expecting.

Alternatively, RS doesn't actually exist, and those mugs are part of the great deception.

The plot thickens. I arrive, on time, for our scheduled 11:35 meeting to the offices of Ratesetter which is an workspace office address with an unmanned reception. Access control is covered by an intercom system with instructions on how to dial the business required. I performed the 4 stage task exactly as described by the documentation on the door however each of the 3 times I tried I received a 'no answer' response from the system. I have attached a redacted photo so you will be able to share my trip.

Whilst the evidence from this visit has left me unable to confirm or deny whether Ratesetter actually exists, I can definitely confirm that there were no mugs, no tea, no coffee and definitely no chocolate digestives available.

I anticipate a response from westonkevRS explaining they were all far too busy processing the mountain of lenders cash, and as such no-one was available to answer the door, however as the grace, charm, and witty repartee I had expected on my visit were sadly lacking I can only realistically see myself giving then a 1/10 and would suggest none of them ever enter a 'dinner dates' type TV show.

I have visited with several other p2p organisations in the past and currently RS unfortunately sit firmly at the bottom of my p2p hosts. 

I doubt I'll be sending any money to a startup unless they offer something genuinely innovative. Wellesley did that with their offering (which I have mixed views on but that is another issue) and it has done well. Their are plenty of 'established' offerings without needing to bother with another me too.