Amazon has filed a flurry of lawsuits aimed at tackling the deep-seated problem of fraudulent customer reviews on its platform.
The e-commerce giant said this week it had filed a lawsuit over the conduct of four alleged fake review brokers.
Read more about e-commerce fraud: Database misconfiguration exposes 200,000 fake Amazon reviewers
These organizations typically reach out to individuals through social media, encrypted messaging, and websites and ask them to write fake reviews in exchange for money, free products, or other perks, Amazon claimed.
The four organizations are:
- According to Amazon, “Nicediscount,” which connects reviewers with the bad guys who run Amazon’s sales accounts, through a “Product Tester Club.”
- The website Littlesmm, claimed by Amazon, sells packages of fake reviews from customer accounts under its control across Australia, Canada and the United States for prices ranging from $20 to $440.
- MangoCity, claimed by Amazon, also uses customer accounts under its control to sell fake reviews ranging from $50 to $4,000 via its website, video chat and email.
- Amazon says Reddit Marketing Pro sells fake reviews and other services to bad actors who run Amazon sales accounts.The price for 500 fake reviews posted by customer accounts under the company’s control could reach $6,999.
These four lawsuits will be in addition to lawsuits against 94 fraudsters as of the end of May 2023.
David Montagu, vice president of retail partner risk at Amazon, said the company’s goal is to build trust in reviews by ensuring that they all reflect real customer experiences. Stated.
“Amazon welcomes genuine reviews, whether positive or negative, but strictly prohibits fake reviews that intentionally mislead customers,” he added.
“We continue to innovate in proactive technology to detect fake reviews and other signs of anomalous behavior. Another way to combat fake reviews is through legal action. Besides identifying the cause of the problem, it sends a clear message that there is no room for cheating in the store and that the fraudsters will be held accountable.”
Chris Downey, CEO of anti-fraud platform Pasabi, said review aggregators and management need to work together to tackle the problem.
“Fake review brokers play a central role in sabotaging consumer decision-making, destroying businesses, and causing irreparable damage to the economy as a whole,” he argued.
“While it is encouraging for Amazon to pursue these scammers through its legal system, much more needs to be done to address the epidemic of fake reviews that impacts UK consumer spending by around £4 billion each year. There is.”
Back in 2021, the UK’s competition watchdog launched an investigation into whether Google and Amazon’s tackling fake reviews was sufficient.
That same year, the online giant claimed to have blocked 10 billion suspected fraudulent listings and more than 6 million attempts to create new merchant accounts in 2020.
Amazon also announced that it will block 200 million fake reviews from its stores in 2022.
