A Blockchain-based Solution to Fake Check-ins in Location-Based Social Networks

Location-Based Social Networks (LBSNs) are an emerging kind of social network in which users can share their position with others and talk about visited places, providing comments and recommendations. Some LBSNs encourage the voluntary submission of place reviews by offering to users some sort of reward for this activity. However, soon or later this possibility has lead to fraudulent behaviours, in which attackers try to perform fake check-ins in order to increase the obtained rewards without actually visiting any place. Several different solutions have been proposed for distinguishing between real and fake check-ins with a certain degree of confidence. In this paper, we propose an alternative solution based on the use of the emerging blockchain technology, where a decentralized service can provide reliable presence claims for users.