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Fake review factories that run on Facebook and post five-star Amazon reviews

theguardian.com

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Re: Fake review factories that run on Facebook and post five-star Amazon reviews

#61

Post by megy »

toss1 wrote: post #36
astrodust wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only way to describe this is as an unfortunate inevitability of review systems as a whole.

I'd say of unmoderated (or poorly moderated) review systems. E.g., we don't see this on Angie's List or Houzz. I've found that the only way to get useful information out of most Amazon reviews is to look at the 1- & 2-stars, trying to filter out the fake competitor hits, and see if there are any consistent issues that aren't DEU issues. Then look at the 3- & 4-stars and see what seems to be good. That said, I expect…

> Angie's List or Houzz.

Ok sure, you can put it down to moderation, or you can put it down to size. What is the size of Angie's list to Amazon?

Re: Fake review factories that run on Facebook and post five-star Amazon reviews

#62

Post by drb91 »

dcbadacd wrote: post #55
toss1 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd say of unmoderated (or poorly moderated) review systems. E.g., we don't see this on Angie's List or Houzz. I've found that the only way to get useful information out of most Amazon reviews is to look at the 1- & 2-stars, trying to filter out the fake competitor hits, and see if there are any consistent issues that aren't DEU issues. Then look at the 3- & 4-stars and see what seems to be good. That said, I expect…

I'd say this is exactly where some kind of web of trust could work. Meaning that everyone is shown the reviews of their added family members, their trusted people (with less weight) and so on and on. If they betray the trust the system could even have a "trust less" button. It'd actually give people the ability to choose who they trust.

Are you kidding? People I know have TERRIBLE judgement when it comes to products. Who builds trust based on that characteristic?

Re: Fake review factories that run on Facebook and post five-star Amazon reviews

#63

Post by RileyJames »

bingbingo wrote: post #4

Shit like this is what made me lose confidence in Amazon and I stopped my prime subscription. My wife bought me “luxury” branded jackets and clothing for fall. Half of them were counterfeit. I called Amazon and they said I can return them and they’ll send me new ones. Ok. How will I know those won’t be counterfeit? Worse, I found a jacket was counterfeit after the return period when it literally started to fall apart…

Regarding a counterfeit product, is the return period relevant? It’s a case of fraud. It seems it would be an open and shut case for a small claim court, if they didn’t provide a refund.

Re: Fake review factories that run on Facebook and post five-star Amazon reviews

#65

Post by [deleted] »

bingbingo wrote: post #4

Shit like this is what made me lose confidence in Amazon and I stopped my prime subscription. My wife bought me “luxury” branded jackets and clothing for fall. Half of them were counterfeit. I called Amazon and they said I can return them and they’ll send me new ones. Ok. How will I know those won’t be counterfeit? Worse, I found a jacket was counterfeit after the return period when it literally started to fall apart…

[deleted]

Re: Fake review factories that run on Facebook and post five-star Amazon reviews

#66

Post by x0x0 »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #37
tomjakubowski wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me a bit of my own giant techco bugbear: for the longest time, Google Maps mishandled my home address - literally across the street from their local office - because it didn't recognize the 1/2 in the house number. It would direct users to 1 Fake St rather than N 1/2 Fake St.

To be fair, I imagine a lot of systems don't handle noninteger house numbers very robustly. That "1/2" business just seems like asking for trouble. The best solution might be to convince your building landlord or management to rename the units as 1 Fake Street Unit A and Unit B, or something like that. Assuming they don't have to fight City Hall to make that happen, they might be willing to help.

whole cities have noninteger house numbers

Eg a town I grew up in labeled houses N\d\+ W\d\+ [street name]

Re: Fake review factories that run on Facebook and post five-star Amazon reviews

#67

Post by Nition »

Lewton wrote: post #57
pmcollins wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a problematic item on Amazon and left a negative review. The seller contacted me three times via email and offered me $30 (the cost of the item) to remove the review. I didn't take it but maybe others had. And I wonder if I was duped into buying the thing because previous negative reviewers had been bought off. Considering the fake reviews and the number of counterfeit items I've received from Amazon, I defa…

I'd be very tempted to remove the review, take the money, then repost the review...

I think I'd just update the review to also mention the attempted bribe.

Re: Fake review factories that run on Facebook and post five-star Amazon reviews

#68

Post by [deleted] »

bingbingo wrote: post #4

Shit like this is what made me lose confidence in Amazon and I stopped my prime subscription. My wife bought me “luxury” branded jackets and clothing for fall. Half of them were counterfeit. I called Amazon and they said I can return them and they’ll send me new ones. Ok. How will I know those won’t be counterfeit? Worse, I found a jacket was counterfeit after the return period when it literally started to fall apart…

[deleted]

Re: Fake review factories that run on Facebook and post five-star Amazon reviews

#69

Post by drb91 »

bingbingo wrote: post #4

Shit like this is what made me lose confidence in Amazon and I stopped my prime subscription. My wife bought me “luxury” branded jackets and clothing for fall. Half of them were counterfeit. I called Amazon and they said I can return them and they’ll send me new ones. Ok. How will I know those won’t be counterfeit? Worse, I found a jacket was counterfeit after the return period when it literally started to fall apart…

Why aree you ordering brands off amazon rather than from the brand? You get what you pay for. Good luck on the fraud charge.

Re: Fake review factories that run on Facebook and post five-star Amazon reviews

#70

Post by DanielleMolloy »

I check Fakespot, and click on some reviewer profiles. The idiots doing full-time positive product reviewing are so easy to spot by their hilarious review history that you start to assume that Amazon doesn’t do anything against them on purpose. They also mainly flock on the crap within a single month or so (but this is one of many Fakespot metrics).

I tried buying a new bicycle light last week and literally every product was crap with fake reviewing. After wasting an hour on this I ended up not buying from Amazon. Rolling out the red carpet for the Chinese crap and counterfeit industry on their platform is likely to become Amazon’s death if they don’t admit their mistake and turn the wheel now.

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