Fake reviews on the rise. What to do??

Nikiya

Whenever I research a new product, particularly an electrical item, user reviews are a main decision factor. Also with hotels or self catering accommodation. However, I find that lately you cannot trust those anymore.
Today, for instance, I was researching a cleaning tool with 65 5* reviews. Not only that, all of them full of praise. Too good to be true. Then, as I usually do, I went one by one and found out those "reviewers" had only published that one review, with the exception of two who had just another review equally full of praise.
Another time, while researching something, I found the same person had published about 10 praising reviews about different items with EXACTLY THE SAME WORDING. I reported it to Amazon, but I do not know what happened. They were not immediately removed and I forgot to check back.
Same with sites like "tripadvisor". I often find people who publish extremely positive or negative reviews only have that one.
Today I discovered this tool, which I tested with the "brilliant" product I was researching and gave me a warning. Here it is, in case someone finds it useful:
https://www.fakespot.com/
But the whole business is depressing.... user's reviews are instrumental to make decisions, the only way you can find out if that wonderful room is an outdated picture or if there is a disco next door that won't let you sleep well, or that a certain device does not perform as it says on the label.
I wonder how many people are annoyed by this phenomenon and if there is anything one can do about that.

[Deleted User]

People need to develop their discriminatory skills.

There seems to be a huge number of people, possibly generational, who will accept anything that is published on the internet - scam products on Facebooks, poorly designed websites selling £5 Rolexes, offers of loans in return for a £500 Western Union payment and so on.

Most of these, plus fake reviews, are easy to spot, simply based on the way they're written. You might not spot all of them, but some common sense will cover most of it.

beenthereeatenthat

On amazon if a review says 'verified purchase' it means it was purchased which does help, however, sellers are getting more clever at offering refunds to reviewers for 5* reviews

Nikiya

Well, it is not that easy. I consider myself quite discerning and will spot those obvious scams from a mile. However, this increase in doctored reviews is not so easy to spot. All the reviews in the above mentioned case were verified purchases, and the texts, names and dates were different. How do they manage it??
Last summer I was looking for a keenly priced place in Spain, I found one which seemed too good to be true. However, most reviews were from first timers and nearly all of them German (the place is run by a German couple). I decided to give it a try and it was INDEED too good to be true. I published a raving review myself afterwards. It was a new arrival on the market and now I would not be able to afford the prices. They have doubled.
That goes to show that one of the most useful research tools has become so slippery you need to invest three times more time to do any research and you might still get it wrong....

Nikiya

sellers are getting more clever at offering refunds to reviewers for 5* reviews

That is what I suspect. But how do they do it? I am a keen reviewer and have never been offered such perks.... or heard of such offers....
Not that I would ACCEPT them of course, but it would give me an inkling of what to avoid. However, another thing I have noticed (through the painstaking job of researching not only every product but also every reviewer) is that some people only have 5* RAVING reviews . Either they are very lucky or they are paid to publish...

shaun_from_Africa

Nikiya wrote: »

Well, it is not that easy. I consider myself quite discerning and will spot those obvious scams from a mile.

You say that you can spot these obvious scams yet when you spot something that you consider "too good to be true", the possibility of getting a good deal overruled your feeling of it being a scam and you went ahead anyway.
This is exactly what scammers are looking for. People who let their desire to save money take precedence over the possibility of being ripped off.

Nikiya wrote: »

Last summer I was looking for a keenly priced place in Spain, I found one which seemed too good to be true. However, most reviews were from first timers and nearly all of them German (the place is run by a German couple). I decided to give it a try and it was INDEED too good to be true. ..

Nikiya

You say that you can spot these obvious scams yet when you spot something that you consider "too good to be true", the possibility of getting a good deal overruled your feeling of it being a scam and you went ahead anyway.
This is exactly what scammers are looking for. People who let their desire to save money take precedence over the possibility of being ripped off.

Not sure you read the whole text. It was a very good deal and obviously I took on board all the factors before deciding and made the right choice.

BESIDES it is not a always question of paying more to avoid mistakes: a lot of high price places or products can be the wrong choice.

hollydays

Which review sites do you look at?
The negative reviews are useful for weeding out the same problems repeated over and over.

IAmWales

Nikiya wrote: »

That is what I suspect. But how do they do it? I am a keen reviewer and have never been offered such perks.... or heard of such offers....
Not that I would ACCEPT them of course, but it would give me an inkling of what to avoid. However, another thing I have noticed (through the painstaking job of researching not only every product but also every reviewer) is that some people only have 5* RAVING reviews . Either they are very lucky or they are paid to publish...

There are sites that you can register at and apply to test hundreds of items. You are sent a code to purchase the item for free or minimal cost, in return for an "honest" review. Except if you leave a negative review you won't be given any future codes.

Amazon do have a rule that the reviewer should state if they received the good for free or low cost, but there are still plenty that don't. Also worth noting that it's not just one review wonders you need to look at, I've found "Top 100" reviewers that do a great line in copy and paste.

[Deleted User]

There are plenty of independent reviews of electrical items etc available from the likes of Which?

The customer reviews on Amazon etc are only ever a rough guide.

What I find more annoying than obvious fake reviews is that Amazon often lump together reviews for numerous versions of a particular item.

shaun_from_Africa

Nikiya wrote: »

Not sure you read the whole text. It was a very good deal and obviously I took on board all the factors before deciding and made the right choice.

You say you made the right choice but then you also stated that the deal was too good to be true.

Nikiya wrote: »

I decided to give it a try and it was INDEED too good to be true

They are two totally contradictory statements because if something was "indeed too good to be true" it means that it wasn't true.