NEW YORK — Online shopping is stronger than ever, especially this time of year, with grocery shopping Cyber Monday setting of historical documents. Amazon, in particular, saw record sales during the five-day shopping window that began on Thanksgiving and ended on Cyber Monday, which the company called its “biggest ever.”
Many people like to see what kind of customer reviews the products they’re buying get, and a new report suggests nearly half of those reviews are fake, according to a Connecticut lawmaker.
Senator Richard Blumenthal cited a report by fake place, a service that detects fraudulent online consumer reviews. Fake place found that out of 720 million Amazon reviews in 2020, 42% were fake.
The company has discovered that some of the fake reviews come from bot online that sellers use to influence the evaluation of a product. In other scenarios, third-party Amazon sellers will boost their reviews by essentially bribing customers, offering gifts or even money in exchange for a good review.
There is now pressure from the federal government to crack down on fake reviews. Citing the study, Blumenthal said there are hundreds of millions of fake reviews on the site and gave an example of how a product can get a fake review.
“It’s a letter to the purchaser of these headphones, offering a $15 gift card for a favorable review,” he said.
Blumenthal wrote to Amazon, saying that while it “has taken steps to curb these false reviews, it is abundantly clear that the company isn’t doing enough” and that “as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the practice has become increasingly rampant.” “.
Amazon told our sister chain Nbc New York that it uses industry-leading tools to detect and block fake reviews, and that the company “proactively blocked more than 200 million suspected fake reviews in 2020 alone…yet the nefarious business of brokering fake reviews remains a problem industry-wide”. .
Amazon said its policies prohibit abuse between reviews, including offering incentives such as gift cards for a positive review. Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission has some tips for spotting fake reviews.
The FTC recommends that you seek information about a product from a variety of sources. Also, keep an eye out for sudden explosions of reviews, which can be a telltale sign of fraud.
It’s also important to remember: a negative review could also be fake, posted to hurt a competitor. Those who spot a fake review should use the “report” link on a product page so the Amazon team can investigate.
