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TOOL / Self-check · before you confirm / 2026-09

P2P risk self-check

This is for the moment just before you press confirm. Eight items: tick what you have done, and whatever you have not gets ranked so you know which one to fix first.

Counterparty
Execution
Account and evidence

Nothing ticked yet

Tick what you have already done.

Everything is computed in your browser. Nothing you tick is sent or stored. Refreshing clears it.

Why each item matters, and how to read the score

What this is defending against

Two entirely different risks. One is being defrauded — the counterparty takes the money and does not release, presses you with a forged screenshot, or pays from a third party's account. The other is being caught up in someone else's problem: the money they send has an upstream issue and your account gets frozen.

Of the eight, "does the payee name match" defends against both, which is why it carries the most weight. It is simultaneously the most common entry point for fraud and the most common route for problematic funds to reach you.

Why complete payment records matter

This item is about records and essential living arrangements, not routing around a review. Separate accounting can help explain transactions but does not isolate bank or legal restrictions; other accounts in your name may be affected. We ordered the items from experience to show what to check first; ticking one does not mean your risk drops by any set amount.

What the three screenshots are for

In normal circumstances you will never look at them. On the one occasion you need them, they are the only material you have to show this was an ordinary trade, that you paid, and that the process is auditable. After a freeze the first task is assembling exactly this, and having it already beats reconstructing it by a wide margin.

How to read the score

Full marks only means these eight items are checked, not that every controllable risk is covered. Full marks is not zero risk — a P2P counterparty is a stranger and you cannot verify where their money came from, so that exposure is structural and can only be reduced. A platform-operated fiat rail can reduce exposure to unknown individuals, but institutional, source-of-funds and freezing risks remain.

If you have not ticked everything

The tool picks out the most important item you are missing and tells you to fix that one. You do not have to fix everything at once — work down the list and do the most important ones first.

When to abandon the trade entirely

Some situations are not "fix a couple of items", they are cancel and find another counterparty. Listed here so you are not deliberating in the moment:

  • Payee name does not match. Whatever the explanation — "it's my wife's card", "company account", "a friend is sending it" — decline. No exceptions; this is the standard route for problem funds.
  • They want to move off-platform. Escrow protection disappears and the platform will not help.
  • They send a screenshot and press you to release. Only your own banking app counts.
  • The quote is suspiciously good. The reason behind it is generally not in your favour.
  • Someone claiming to be support contacts you mid-trade. Support does not open private chats and never asks you to move funds.

Cancelling an order costs your standing almost nothing. Accepting money of unknown origin can cost months. That trade-off is easy to misjudge in the moment, which is why it is written down here in advance.

Why there is no pass/fail light

Because it would create false certainty. This checklist covers the part you control — counterparty selection, execution discipline, evidence, account separation. It cannot cover where the money came from, and that is the largest source of risk. So the tool reports completeness and a priority, not a permit.

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