Criminals buy ratings and testimonials to make untested products and dishonest sellers look established.

Fake reviews create the impression that plenty of strangers have already tried the product, service or investment. It works because, when we lack the time, expertise or independent evidence, we lean on other customers' experience as a shortcut.

When EU consumer authorities checked 223 major websites in 2022, they could not confirm that 144 of them were doing enough to make sure reviews came from real customers.^[ref]

How the stars get manufactured:

💬 Bought praise - Review brokers and account farms sell ratings, testimonials and ready-made enthusiasm. The reviewer never touched the product, but the five stars still sway a real purchase.

🤖 Synthetic reviewers - Generative AI churns out varied, believable reviews by the thousand. A detailed story, perfect grammar and a profile photo do not prove anyone had the experience.

🧹 Selective reality - Dishonest businesses bury criticism, pressure customers into deleting negative posts, or show only the good feedback and present it as the full picture.

🥸 Hidden insiders - Owners, employees and affiliates pose as independent customers without mentioning the connection.

⭐ Reputation attacks - Coordinated one-star reviews punish competitors or pressure businesses.

In the EU, buying, selling or submitting false consumer reviews to promote products has been explicitly banned since 28 May 2022.^[ref] The U.S. FTC's Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule, in force since 21 October 2024, targets fake reviews, rewards tied to positive sentiment, undisclosed insider reviews, review suppression and fake social-media influence.^[ref]

What to do:

For consumers:

- Read the recent critical and middle-of-the-road reviews, not just the average score.

- Look for specific, checkable details and a believable reviewer history. Repeated phrasing, sudden bursts of reviews and vague superlatives deserve suspicion.

- Check independent sources and the return policy before paying. Reviews never prove that an investment or a seller is regulated.

For platforms and businesses:

- Analyze reviewer, device, payment, timing and language patterns together instead of judging the text alone.

- Separate verified purchases from unverified opinions, and disclose incentives clearly. Never tie a reward to a positive review; disclosing it does not fix that.

- Keep negative feedback unless it breaks a published policy, and give merchants a fair appeal route against coordinated attacks.