Britons at growing risk of rogue traders due to AI, Checkatrade boss says

The growing use of AI is putting millions of UK households at growing risk of unvetted rogue traders, the boss of Checkatrade has warned.

It came as the platform for tradespeople said it has blocked hundreds of cowboy traders from listing on its platform despite increased scrutiny from the competition watchdog.

Jambu Palaniappan, chief executive of Checkatrade, claimed AI searches are unknowingly bypassing consumer protections by drawing data from non-compliant platforms.

He said the business has seen many positive uses for AI within its operations but is also leading to heightened risk for many consumers.

“AI is here to stay and is now a really important part of how consumers interact,” he told the PA news agency.

“But there has to be focus on how to help protect consumers from rogue traders in all areas, so we need a level playing field between platforms and AI.

“The CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) has worked very hard to scrutinise the market but AI is quietly undoing a lot of that work by scalping from sites that are not compliant with their requirements.”

In April, the CMA – the UK’s competition regulator – set out new guidelines to ensure that websites and apps that help people to find and connect with traders were adequately vetting the traders they list.

They require platforms to verify reviews, disclose commercial relationships and vet the tradespeople they list.

The company said its data has showed around 11% of consumers have said they use AI search services for finding tradespeople.

However, Checkatrade said it uses AI systems itself to help detect fake reviews.

It said it is using machine learning models to assess behavioural factors at a reviewer, review and trade level to determine the propensity to be fake and spot unusual patterns.

It came as the company reported it has blocked 850 rogue traders from joining the platform in the past year, including almost 400 since the start of April.