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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Sarah Marsh

‘It can be incredibly profitable’: the secret world of fake online reviews

Male hands laptop keyboard
Fake review ‘brokers’ send reviewers a list of items to review, ‘often under-reviewed products with less than 1,000 ratings’. Photograph: Sandy Gasperoni/Alamy

“Andrew” wishes he felt more guilty about writing fake reviews of Amazon products, but says if someone orders something they don’t like then they can always get it refunded. The thirtysomething computer analyst from Oklahoma is off work while he recovers from back surgery and fires off five-star ratings as he awaits appointments.

It all began with an online search for a product testing job, which led to Facebook groups, often called “Amazon reviews” or similar. There, faceless vendors or ones with stock photo avatars offered him an array of products, from headphones to cameras, promising a full refund if he bought them and left a positive review.

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