as someone said earlier in the thread "Trust No One" is the best policy

but when trust is something that must be extended - really the best metric we have for trust in the Bitcoin world right now (other than the otc system which is cumbersome for many users) is the way our forum has evolved into a reputation system.

to me if a bitcoin business has absolutely no real ties to a real person on this forum its a major red flag
(case in point - Bitscalper)