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posted by chromas on Monday April 15 2019, @09:50AM   Printer-friendly
from the ★★★★★☆☆ dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

The fake Amazon review economy is a thriving market, ripe with underground forums, "How To Game The Rankings!" tutorials, and websites with names like (now-defunct) "amazonverifiedreviews.com."

But the favored hunting grounds for sellers on the prowl is Amazon's fellow tech behemoth, Facebook.

In a recent two-week period, I identified more than 150 private Facebook groups where sellers openly exchange free products (and, in many cases, commissions) for 5-star reviews, sans disclosures.

A sampling of 20 groups I analyzed [which I've posted publicly here] collectively have more than 200,000 members. These groups seem to be in the midst of an online Gold Rush: Most are less than a year old, and in the past 30 days have attracted more than 50,000 new users.

Honesty and "no scamming" are touted as group rules — but a look under the hood reveals a potpourri of foul play.

Source: https://thehustle.co/amazon-fake-reviews


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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by black6host on Monday April 15 2019, @11:40AM (2 children)

    by black6host (3827) on Monday April 15 2019, @11:40AM (#829759) Journal

    I recently posted a journal entry about having received a card with an order from Amazon that said if I gave the product 5 stars I would receive another of the product for free, or a $10.00 credit. https://soylentnews.org/~black6host/journal/4117 [soylentnews.org]

    I ended up leaving a review for the seller describing what I received and my displeasure at being asked to leave such a review for money. Amazon posted the comment but struck out all the text and left a note saying that the product was fulfilled by Amazon and therefore they took complete responsibility for the card.

    Amazon is just as guilty for buying reviews as the dishonest sellers. This problem isn't just Amazon's, I'm sure it's widespread: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/buyer-beware-a-scourge-of-fake-online-reviews-is-hitting-amazon-walmart-and-other-major-retailers/ [cbsnews.com]

    Caveat emptor...

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 15 2019, @03:14PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 15 2019, @03:14PM (#829862)

      I left a 3-star review for an Amazon add-on product (a sign) that arrived damaged in an undamaged envelope. The review was declined, so I left a new 1-star review that simply said "My review" 1-star.

    • (Score: 1) by anubi on Tuesday April 16 2019, @01:29AM

      by anubi (2828) on Tuesday April 16 2019, @01:29AM (#830218) Journal

      That is why I pay far more attention to bad reviews than good ones. One "oh-shit" will wipe out a helluva lotta "attaboys".

      In order for me to consider a bad review, I need some specific reason behind the bad rating.

      --
      "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
  • (Score: 2) by hellcat on Monday April 15 2019, @12:40PM (1 child)

    by hellcat (2832) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 15 2019, @12:40PM (#829779) Homepage

    Maybe it's time we invoke what came out of the 1960's.
    The Consumer's Union [consumerreports.org] has always been a strong voice for the consumer, and as far as I can tell are still unsullied by the taint of capitalism.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 15 2019, @02:07PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 15 2019, @02:07PM (#829817)

      A strong, but dumb voice. If you are knowledgable in computers and see their computer reviews and shake your head, you question their judgment where you may not be so knowledgable, like cars.

  • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 15 2019, @12:50PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 15 2019, @12:50PM (#829783)

    Shut down facebook, the place where honesty is punished and all kinds of illegal and immoral things are glorified.

    It is a place to drain your brain and fill it with emptiness. When has anyone's life gotten better after using that thing called facebook? Can no other website allow communication among people? The purpose of the facebook website is to divide and rule, collect data from victims and use it against them. They systematically divide people into groups and subgroups and watch them for any activity that might go against khazar jewish interests.

  • (Score: 2) by arslan on Tuesday April 16 2019, @01:50AM

    by arslan (3462) on Tuesday April 16 2019, @01:50AM (#830225)

    I bought a Chinese wireless earbuds from amazon. They were horrible, I left a pretty scathing review. They contacted me and apologized for my "unhappiness" with their product and sent me another of their product - a wireless headphones.

    These were actually pretty decent and I didn't have to pay for it, but if I did it would have been good value. They then emailed me asking for a review, so I gladly did. Now a few weeks later, they emailed me again, but this time asking me if I felt better about my initial purchase and what they can do so the bad "feelings" and comments can be "overcome"... they're even willing to refund me so I remove that bad review. Still thinking about it.

    Those stars are worth a lot.

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