Online Review Scams Becoming More Frequent

A new and quite despicable practice is emerging involving fake product and restaurant reviews. In Millbrae, California, a Yelper was caught posting a negative review that directly contradicts two security cameras. In their unscrupulous attempts to establish a name for themselves, some online "critics" have resorted to faking reviews. Similar scams occur regularly for products and services to the point where it is hard to know what to trust. They flood the Internet with positive reviews so much that negative reviews tend to fade in the background. Then they contact and harass sites posting negative reviews, request link removals and threaten litigation.

In some cases, a more subtle approach is taken where a marginal product is made to appear significantly better than it is. Many of these products are too mundane to even mention in a review and yet suspiciously, certain brands always seem to sparkle with flying colors. The day a ballpoint pen review starts to sound like the greatest achievement since man walked on the moon, you know something is up. Not all online retailers use product reviews and even crazier, today these reviews are sold just like mailing lists. This is not to say there is no such thing as an honest review but buyer beware, things are not always what they seem.