Google will offer businesses the option to verify their identities so that a verification check mark can be added to their names in recipients’ inboxes. This should help to address the widespread phishing problem facing users of email services.
The identity verification service will make it easier for Gmail users to verify if the email they received is from a legitimate source, rather than a scammer. Verification check marks have long been used on Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms. However, they were never rolled out enough the extent required to reign in phishing. They did not verify most users identities, and in many cases they still wouldn’t even if a user requested to have their identity verification done.
This means that millions of important accounts are still not verified. The scope of the phishing problem is still enormous. Hopefully Gmail is more successful than they are with their roll-out of identity verification instead of reserving it for a handful of large accounts. One possible option is to charge a one-time fee to have the identity verification done (properly). Twitter’s new approach of selling blue check marks without verifying accounts isn’t going to suffice.
Another suggestion for Gmail is a (not blue) check mark or other symbol for paid accounts that can be displayed to show that the account is paid for that recipients can see. This could be offered separately from the blue verification check mark without doing a verification process. Spam (and scams) usually comes from free accounts, not paid ones.
