No Wonder I Sent Back Those Crappy Bluetooth Headphones…
I received the following in an email today. I wasn’t sure if it was legal to reblog, so the link to all of the article is at the bottom.
I’m waiting for this to hit the WP Indie Author Circuit. Despite the author starting his article in passive voice, the information will astound you. What is it the publishers want, 60,000 followers?
| 900,000 fake reviews for a perfect rating |
 900,000 fake reviews for a perfect rating  Sven Krumrey | 03.03.2022  I was recently looking for a new Bluetooth speaker to add proper sound to the upcoming balcony season. I have little expertise in this area so I looked around the Internet and did some research. I quickly chanced upon a product with reviews that promised “unmatched rich basses”, “crystal-clear highs”, “incredible runtime” and that was lauded as the “perfect companion for every party”. These were either highly enthusiastic customers–or fake reviews. Amazon just recently sued two companies that sell phony reviews on a large scale. Read more |
Not Very Deep Thoughts 
I can see where this would really stick in your craw…lucky you to not have one!
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Received. liked and saved your most recent comments re: Grammarly. Appreciated!
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Wow, humans know how to reduce everything to the absurd. I loved your post and received no compensation for hitting the like button but would accept it if offered.
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There’s a product review site based in Australia that notes if a review comes from a ‘verified’ purchaser.
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There was a joke while ago about the car lots offering “ certified” used cars. Along the lines of what, exactly, constitutes “certified”? “Okay, it’s three years old, it has some miles on it. It’s used all right. Certified. Next”
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The ‘verified” purchaser has to show evidence of the receipt.
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That’s good. On some sites the reviewers must disclose if they received the product as a perk or discounted as part of a reviewer program.
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I see that disclaimer on posts that I follow.
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I knew this was a problem but, as usual, was unaware of the magnitude and scope of the problem. Wow. Thanks!
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I had no idea. But, you know, it makes you wonder what 60k would cost. Get a screen capture and hit up Random House before they disappeared!
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I don’t know if Amazon do have a staff of 10,000 going through all new reviews or whether fake reviews are discovered through IP addresses, but I’ve had some reviews deleted by Amazon even though I thought they were genuine. They have certainly clamped down on fake reviews in recent years.
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I’m not sure that’s all Amazon – but the flip side of that coin is to give a book a one star and point out the flaws, particularly if it’s a real publishing house and they won’t publish it or will yank it, no doubt from vendor pressure.
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Ah yes, very true.
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