Extent of Amazon review scamming revealed: Hacked accounts posting 2,500 times
Extent of Amazon review scamming revealed: Hacked accounts posting 2,500 times
Article by RT UK
https://www.rt.com/uk/463417-review-scammers-hacked-accounts-amazon/
Amazon sellers are using hacked accounts to award themselves five-star ratings, with one hijacked user posting as many as 2,500 bogus reviews, a consumer watchdog has found, urging regulators to act.
Legitimate accounts are being hijacked to post fake reviews – sometimes thousands of them, UK consumer watchdog Which? found in an investigation into tricks sellers have been using to evade Amazon’s onsite review police and fraud detection algorithms. Some of the hacked users were told to delete the reviews themselves when they reported the problem to Amazon. Which? is demanding the e-commerce giant deal with the problem – and calling on regulators to make sure it does.
“ If they fail to put more rigorous systems in place, then the [Consumer Markets Authority] must intervene to ensure that fake reviews and other misleading tactics can be stamped out ,” Natalie Hitchins, Which? head of home products and services, told the Telegraph.
Some sellers simply bribe users with cash and gift cards to post positive reviews – or to change negative ones. Others are exploiting Amazon’s marketing tools, creating fake “ product variations ” – like 40 colors of headphones – to multiply the number of positive reviews a user can give a product, or merging an old product’s positive reviews with an unrelated new product. These features are being “ abused on a grand scale ,” Which? found.
Facebook continues to host groups with tens of thousands of members set up to generate real-looking “ verified purchase ” reviews despite being warned by the CMA, and new groups spring up as quickly as the old ones are reported to the site and shut down, the investigation found, noting that five star reviews were being “ sold ” on eBay as well.
38 replies
Seller_DROodOAYHftnc
…and it is not just product reviews but Seller Feedback too, with multiple fake 5* feedback all left by the same named ‘supposed’ customer, and disappearing negs - all reported several times.
Seller_kHIYvQFgzwVAy
Didn’t know you could merge products
Seller_vpQAqNlqUVowU
Wondering if there is any association of Amazon sellers or established lobby (it’s something worth considering as we are 1000´s and we may get benefits with deals, have a representative, etc…). If we gather forces we may be able to get something done, as individuals, clearly our actions are not been listened.
Seller_Xo4Z606J15V4I
Well well well. Nice to see this being made more public.
Seller_tjsuNtBUM3Q3O
I am pleased to see this is being highlighted by Which. As a seller and a buyer on Amazon I am too getting annoyed with all the fake feedbacks and reviews. There are so many fake reviews on Amazon that I really cant see how this problem will get sorted.
Seller_qLjJpjH036Ctt
I have contacted amazon about multiple fake negative reviews left on our account. Nothing. They don’t seem to care…
Seller_16EevDf4Axaui
Worryingly, I’d assume this could also be used to leave negative feedbacks, paid for by competitors maybe?. We’ve had multiple negatives from pseudonyms that we can’t identify or even validate as real customers, 1 star reviews despite other, identifiable customers leaving 4 and 5 star reviews. We don’t have an issue on eBay, we have a 99.8% positive rating and have sold far more on eBay than Amazon. Luckily, most of our trade comes from eBay and our own site, Amazon seem to be losing the battle with the seller, some say they want it that way so they can capitalise their own sales and make more profit but if that is the case someone needs to go back and figure the metrics for that argument because if all sellers came off Amazon, then Amazon would need to be the ones refunding customers for apparent “non deliveries”, “damaged goods”, “not fit for purpose” and take the hit on lines that attract fake negative reviews. You know what they say, the bigger they are the harder they fall!.
Seller_xUKHc5xSYJmI4
I am really confused how can an account can get hijacked especially with the security code is sent to the registered mobile number? Only shared accounts may share the OTP number. For example the Amazon account be opened by the husband and shared with the wife and other members of the household. This would to Prime membership where the account maybe be used by multiple people.
With the six digit number OTP sent to registered account holder it says " Do not share it with anyone". If the account is shared by multiple members of the family then it will be shared.
Seller_EOlOnu52eBFfp
Myself and My team and in the process of setting up a startup to fix this exact problem , so this becomes of a problem of yesterday, we are also going to start a crowdfunding campaign, More info and if you would like to participate, message us.
All you thoughts & views are welcome.
Seller_lBVct58q3uKGC
99% of real customers expect to purchase their item, have it delivered, and get on with their day. Rightly so.
As long as marketplaces like Amazon ignore the 99% who choose not to review and rate their every purchase this problem will persist unabated.
We find our organic review rate (we will not spam customers asking for reviews) ranges from 0.1% to 1%. That’s 500+ real sales to counter 5 fake reviews. Broken.
I’m glad that Which? is taking up the case, both upping the pressure on places like Amazon and trying to educate the wider public.
