Fake reviews are ubiquitous online. Can a crackdown put an end to this?
After Dr. Mark J. Mohrmann had completed a successful orthopedic procedure in 2019, his patient turned to Yelp, the review website, to share his appreciation.
“Dr. Mark made me feel like I was in safe hands,” the patient wrote in a five-star review.
Only the writer wasn’t a real patient, and there was no procedure. His review was fake – part of an effort to boost online reviews for Dr. Mohrmann using fake positive reviews, according to an analysis of Fake Review Watch, an industry watchdog. Last month, Dr. voted. Mohrmann agrees to pay a $100,000 fine to settle with the New York Attorney General on charges of misleading the public with false reviews.
The fake reviews for Dr. Mohrmann are just one example of the multi-billion dollar fake review industry, in which people and companies pay marketers to post fake positive reviews on Google Maps, Amazon, Yelp and other platforms, misleading millions of customers every year.
Fake reviews are as old as the internet itself, and they are illegal and banned by online platforms. But companies with fake reviews have continued to thrive regardless.
Now, for the first time, a wave of regulation and action from tech companies is coming together in a more concerted effort to turn the tide.
This summer, the Federal Trade Commission proposed a sweeping new rule that would punish companies for buying or selling fake reviews, among other restrictions. In October, multiple online platforms, including Amazon and Expedia, announced a coalition that would share information and resources among companies to combat review fraud. And late last month, New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a statewide warning, saying in a statement that fake reviews were “illegal and unacceptable.”
However, experts warned that the problem of fake reviews could be so bad as to be insurmountable, noting that fake reviewers have survived previous crackdowns.
Jason Brown, the founder of Rating frauda consumer advocacy website that has exposed companies using fake reviews, said platforms had not done enough to tackle the problem, but acknowledged growing concerns from regulators and companies.
“Everyone is feeling the heat and pressure,” he said. “Time will tell.”
Nearly all fake reviews are positive reviews, such as four-star and five-star reviews, that companies write themselves or are created by digital marketers, whose services can be purchased online for just a few dollars per review. Many deceptive marketers are based abroad, limiting the FTC’s power to oversee the problem. And AI tools like ChatGPT threaten to boost the industry by making it easier to write fake reviews, the agency warned.
Fake reviews are so prevalent that almost every online shopper is likely to encounter one at some point. Amazon said it was blocking more than that 200 million suspected fake reviews last year, and Google said yes 115 million rule-breaking reviews removed of Maps in 2022 – an increase of 20 percent compared to the previous year.
In its proposed rule, the FTC stopped short of issuing new rules against tech giants, pointing to a federal law that shields companies from liability for content posted on their platforms. The agency instead focused on investigating and punishing companies that buy or sell online reviews, in some cases imposing fines of $50,000 or more.
“The rule will not apply to the architects of the entire corrupt system: the review platforms and tech companies that profit from online reviews, whether real or fake,” said Kay Dean, a former federal investigator who runs Fake Review Watch.
Ms Dean began her attempt after fake online reviews led her to a psychiatric practice. On her Youtube Channelshe painstakingly documents hundreds of companies using fake or suspicious reviews, from moving companies to doctor’s offices.
Her investigations often depend on identify reviewers that review unrelated companies across the country – a clear sign of fraud. She found that 19 of Mr. Mohrmann’s alleged patients also left glowing reviews on Google Maps for the same moving company in Las Vegas, and another 18 apparently used the same locksmith in Texas.
In an emailed statement sent through his attorney, Dr. Mohrmann that “healthcare professionals focus on patient care and are sometimes unaware of the actions taken by companies hired to manage online reputation or search engine optimization.” The New York Attorney General’s office said that Dr. Mohrmann “asked friends, family and employees to leave positive five-star reviews” and that his wife wrote some of the reviews herself.
Review watchdogs like Ms. Dean blamed Google and other major platforms for the problem’s resilience. These websites often rely on customers to self-check fake reviews and usually do not disclose when a business has engaged in suspicious behavior, allowing fraudsters to continue posting fraudulent reviews after old reviews have been removed.
The Transparency Companyan industry watchdog that develops software to analyze and detect fake reviews has identified more than 100,000 companies using fake and suspicious reviews to boost their digital image – often in ways that are invisible to an unsuspecting customer.
“One of the reasons I chose to detect fake Google reviews over Amazon and others is because of the harm it causes to consumers,” said Curtis Boyd, the founder of the Transparency Company. “A bad $10 kitchen knife or a cheap Bluetooth headset won’t ruin a household. Choosing the wrong doctor, lawyer or contractor can ruin your life.”
An analysis by the Transparency Company found that half of the reviews on Dr.’s Google Maps profile. Mohrmann are “highly suspicious,” with many accounts linked to India, Vietnam and Britain. Dr. Mohrmann maintains a 4.5 rating on Google Maps, compared to just 2.5 stars on Yelp. (The last Google review flagged as suspicious was published a year ago.)
Dr.’s lawyer Mohrmann said they were “working closely with the New York Attorney General’s office and others to eliminate inauthentic reviews.”
Google Maps has become one of the largest review platforms in the world. The company has filed a report his own lawsuit in June against someone else who posted more than 14,000 fake reviews, according to court records.
“When we discover bad actors trying to deceive people, we take swift action, from removing content to suspending accounts and even dispute” Ian Leader, director of product management at Google Maps, said in an emailed statement.
Amazon appeared to anticipate the FTC’s new regulations in June and announced a blueprint to stop fake reviews. In a blog post, the company acknowledged that “an illegal ‘fake review broker’ industry has emerged,” vowing a crackdown. The company added more funding to investigate bogus rating schemes and said they would exchange information with rival companies.
In October, Amazon had joined other major review portals such as Expedia to launch the Coalition for Trustworthy Reviews, a collaboration aimed at creating shared standards for police checks and allowing companies to exchange notes on how fraudulent actors operate. But the coalition has not yet outlined how it would achieve these goals or how much time and money it would take.
“It would take hundreds of hours from product teams from all the major brands, and a lot of resources,” Mr Boyd said. “That’s why I’m skeptical.”
Amazon also shifted the blame to regulators, writing that the problem “requires government agencies with the proper enforcement authority and funding to prosecute these fake review brokers.”
In a statement, an Amazon spokeswoman said that even as the company battled fake reviews, brokers’ “tactics for fake reviews have also evolved” to evade detection, but that the company would “suspend, ban and pursue legal action against these reviews.” who violated his policies.
Experts who study the fake review world say industry coalitions are often an attempt to avoid stricter regulations from lawmakers. The European Union has moved faster to hold companies accountable for the content posted on their platforms, passing the Digital Services Act last year, which could hold companies legally liable for fraudulent content.
“Could this be a great coalition that has a real impact on the market? Yes,” Mr. Boyd said. “Could it be lip service to ‘how great we all are’? Yes, that would be possible. Normally that is the case.”