Crackdown: Amazon sues 1000 people to stop phony product reviews that are written for $5 a pop
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 21 October, 2015, 3:01pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 21 October, 2015, 3:01pm
Associated Press in New York
Online shoppers are relying more and more on consumer reviews on everything from restaurant meals and Uber rides to hotel rooms and iPhone cases. Photo: Reuters
Amazon is stepping up its fight against bogus product reviews on its site, suing more than 1,000 people for allegedly offering to post glowing write-ups for as little as US$5 apiece.
The complaint, filed in state court in Seattle on Friday, takes aim at what is believed to be a burgeoning practice online: Some people try to make money by writing five-star testimonials about products they have never even tried. And some companies try to boost sales by commissioning such reviews.
Online shoppers are relying more and more on consumer reviews on everything from restaurant meals and Uber rides to hotel rooms and iPhone cases. About 45 per cent of consumers consider product reviews when weighing an online purchase.
Retailers have tried to crack down on paid-for bogus reviews in a variety of ways. Other sites that depend on customer-generated reviews, including Yelp and TripAdvisor, use computer algorithms and teams of investigators to detect fraudulent write-ups.
In April, Amazon sued several sites that offered to produce positive reviews. In the latest lawsuit, the company is going after writers of the reviews themselves who have accounts on freelance marketplace Fiverr.com
The writers promise five-star reviews to companies that sell products on Amazon.com according to the complaint. In many cases, the writers ask the sellers themselves to write the review, and then put their name on it, the lawsuit alleges.
In one example, a Fiverr seller named "bess98" said she would provide an "awesome" review if the seller provided the text.
Anyone who buys something off Amazon is considered a verified customer and can write an online review about the product. That's one way Amazon tries to guard against bogus reviews.
