Fake Reviewers Caught

Ever see a review that sounds too good to be true? Over the years, I have come across quite a few of these. Unless you are Mr. Wiffle or Flo the Progressive Insurance spokeswoman, it is hard to find people that enthusiastic in the real world. In a major crackdown, Amazon is now suing users that were paid to place positive reviews on their site. The culprits evaded detection by using different accounts and IP addresses. While Amazon claims to have found roughly 1,000 such reviewers, they are not alone. Yelp and TripAdvisor have also discovered fake reviewers. In fact, virtually all sites that allow reviews at some point or another find they have the same problem.

Unless we are talking about an exceptional cause like the AbilityOne program or green / biobased alternatives, few people will be so thoughtful as to write a review. Even with biobased or green alternatives, I cannot recall anyone ever bothering to give us a recommendation after making such a purchase. The person may be a strong advocate for utilizing biobased solutions or helping people with major disabilities but you are lucky just to get the sale let alone a review.

Most products are simply not that interesting. While it may not come as a surprise that a toilet paper or #2 pencil review is fake, many people do not realize that it isn't illegal (at least yet) for a product reviewing service to sell "legitimate reviews" to different sites that sell those products. Although technically not illegal, to me this is a little deceptive because it may give the impression the product was sold by a different party. Moreover, when someone does actually bother to write a review, many site owners would prefer to give the person the benefit of the doubt. Small companies do not have the resources to properly vet each review and big companies may only make a token effort to protect their reputations. Ultimately, it is up to the consumer to use proper judgement as no computer program will catch everything and disclaimers provide a convenient scapegoat to circumvent corporate liability.