Back in my day, we relied on a now mostly obsolete concept we used to call reputation.  It might seem rather archaic, but the way it worked was that you would tend to only do business with companies that you, or someone you personally knew, had experience dealing with.  When dealing with a completely new company that you knew nothing about, you'd consider the risk and limit your exposure until they had earned your trust.  There was even a Latin expression we used to describe this concept: "caveat emptor".

As odd as it may seem, this system actually worked quite well.  Fraud was minimal, and companies had incentives to build trust and reputation by offering good products, good service, and prompt resolutions to problems.