The Psychology of Trust in the Digital Age: From Carding Forums to Modern Reputation Systems

[Professor]

Abstract: A study of how primitive reputation systems (such as support and reviews) emerged in an environment of total mistrust (where anyone could cheat). A comparison with modern rating systems in the legal digital world (Airbnb, marketplaces) is made.

Introduction: Trust as the Currency of the New World​

Imagine this: you want to make a deal with someone whose face you've never seen, whose real name you don't know, and who may be physically located on the other side of the planet. You have no recourse if something goes wrong. The conditions for cooperation seem impossible. It is precisely in such extreme conditions that the most fascinating social experiments in trust-building have emerged — on the shadow forums of the digital age.

Paradoxically, a world built on deception ("scams") has become a laboratory for honing the reputation mechanisms that today underpin our legitimate digital lives. When we leave a review on Airbnb or check a seller's rating on a marketplace, we are using the direct descendants of systems that arose in an environment of total mistrust.

This article is not a justification for crime, but an exploration of a remarkable phenomenon: how the fundamental human need for trust emerges even where it seems to have no basis.

Chapter 1. Anarchy and its Costs: Why "Fraud" is a Bad Business Model​

The environment of early carding and hacker forums was the embodiment of the "digital wild west." Anonymity was absolute, law enforcement virtually impossible. Every transaction (purchase of stolen data, software, services) was an act of enormous risk. Betrayal ("scamming") was easy, tempting, and often unpunished.

But it was here that a basic economic principle emerged: chaos is detrimental to long-term business. Even in a criminal environment, sustainable, profitable operations require predictability. If everyone can be deceived, the system quickly collapses — everyone spends time and resources searching for new victims rather than developing their "competencies."

A demand for order arose. And this order could be built on only one thing — reputation.

Chapter 2. Primitive Trust Systems: "Support," Worklogs, and "Word of Honor"​

In the absence of laws and states, the community was forced to invent its own fragile but functioning institutions.

1. "Support" was the first arbitrator.
   This was a neutral administrator or a group of respected individuals on the forum. In the event of a dispute between a buyer and seller (for example, if damaged card data was sold), the parties could contact "support." Support reviewed evidence: screenshots, chat logs, and product inspection results. Their decision, based not on the law but on internal group notions of "fairness", was final. Disobedience led to censure and a ban. This was the prototype of today's marketplace arbitration service.
2. Feedback system and "talk threads."
   Before dealing with someone, users researched their history. Special topics — "talk threads" (from the English "talk" and "thread") — were filled with short reviews: "Rip-off," "Good job, everything was great," "Rip-off." This was a crude but effective form of rating. Digital word-of-mouth became the primary regulator of behavior.
3. A worklog is proof of expertise.
   To gain credibility, "masters" (such as malware creators) kept "worklogs" — detailed journals in which they posted screenshots and descriptions of their work process. This wasn't just bragging but also a means of legitimization. "I don't just talk, I show the process" — this principle today underlies portfolios on freelance exchanges and geek blogs.
4. Escalation of trust: from a guarantor to direct cooperation.
   A chain was established: first, small transactions through a guarantor ("support"), then larger ones, and finally direct ones, based on long-standing "honest" partnerships. Trust here was not a moral category, but capital accumulated over years and instantly devalued by a single failure.

Chapter 3. Evolution: From Underground to Mainstream. How the Experience of Anarchy Shaped the Legal World​

Amazingly, it was these crude mechanisms that became the prototypes for the trust systems used by billions of people today.

• The forum's "support" has been transformed into a marketplace arbitration service (for example, Ozon or AliExpress), which resolves disputes between buyers and sellers. The principle is the same: a neutral third party reviews the evidence and renders a verdict.
• Talk threads with "Rip-Off/Clean" ratings have evolved into star ratings and detailed review systems on Booking.com, Airbnb, and Yandex.Services. We trust not an abstract seller, but the combined experience of thousands of strangers.
• Worklogs, as proof of skills, have evolved into portfolios on Behance, GitHub, and freelance platforms. Credibility is built on demonstrating the process and results, not just a diploma.
• An anonymous nickname with a history has become a profile on a social network or a professional platform (LinkedIn), where our reputation is our most valuable asset, directly affecting opportunities.

The key difference: In the legal digital world, these systems are backed by law, identification, and complex algorithms. But their psychological and social foundations are exactly the same.

Chapter 4. Psychological Mechanism: How Does Digital Trust Work?​

Why do we feel more confident when we see a seller's 4.9 stars? It's not just a number.

1. The crowd effect (social proof): Our brain interprets mass positive feedback as a signal: "Many people have already done the right thing for me, so they will do the same for me." This reduces the cognitive load when making a decision.
2. Digitalization of reputation: The abstract concept of "honest person" is transformed into a concrete, measurable indicator — a rating. This makes trust transactional and transferable. Your reputation from one forum or platform can (though not always) be transferred to another context.
3. Trust in the platform as a guarantor: When using Airbnb, we trust not only the apartment host but also the platform itself, which has verified us, provided a communication channel, and promises support in case of any problems. The platform becomes a modern "support service."

Chapter 5. The Dark Side: Manipulation and Reputation Wars​

Systems born underground also inherited its vulnerabilities. Today, we encounter their legalized versions:

• The manipulation of reviews and the purchase of ratings is a direct analogue of the conspiracy and manipulation of "positive" chat threads in the underground.
• Reputational blackmail: "Leave five stars and we'll refund $10" or, conversely, the threat of a negative review from the buyer.
• Attacks on competitors' reputations through commissioned negative reviews.

This demonstrates that the struggle for trust is a constant game, and any system based on social proof can be gamed. However, the scale and openness of legal systems make such manipulations increasingly difficult to maintain.

Conclusion: Trust is the scarcest resource we are learning to create.​

The story of trust, from carding forums to Airbnb, is a story of remarkable human adaptability. Even in the most hostile environments for cooperation, we instinctively build social structures that allow us to interact.

This journey shows us that:

1. Trust is the foundation of any long-term system, even one that exists outside the law. It is a fundamental economic and social category.
2. Digital reputation systems aren't artificial constructs, but a natural extension of our desire to evaluate a partner's trustworthiness. They formalize what we've always done: asking others for their opinions and seeking recommendations.
3. We are all participants in this system. By leaving honest feedback, resolving disputes fairly, and accumulating our professional worklog, we're not just using convenient features. We're participating in building a digital society of trust that makes the online world less anonymous, more predictable, and ultimately more humane.

By understanding this continuity, we can approach our role in these systems more consciously and responsibly. After all, every review, every rating, is not just a click, but a small brick in the overall edifice of digital trust that we are all building together.