Fake five-star reviews are bypassing checks on Facebook, Google and Trustpilot, with bogus paid-for glowing endorsements slipping past security nets, worrying research has shown. The Which? investigation found that the online marketplaces can be easily infiltrated through a booming industry of fake brokers peddling reviews for as little as £4.
The consumer champion went undercover with a fake business, called Gold Lion Labs, to try to find out just how robust the checks really are that many of the UK’s biggest online platforms claim to have in place to detect or prevent fake reviews from misleading customers.
The investigation found:
