If you’re reading this, chances are you check online reviews before you buy something or hire a service provider, like a plumber or electrician (thanks for relying on Checkbook.org for that info!).

Click below to listen to our Consumerpedia podcast episode.

Most shoppers (99 percent) research purchases online at least sometimes; nearly 87 percent do so regularly or always, according to a 2023 survey of more than 9,000 consumers by Power Reviews.

While the research team at Checkbook.org spends enormous time and resources hunting down and eliminating ratings submitted by businesses, elsewhere, unfortunately, you can’t always trust online reviews.

It’s difficult to determine the extent of the problem, but it’s clear that numbers of fake reviews are increasing, making it more challenging to get objective information about products or services consumers consider buying.

“Fake reviews permeate review sites today, deceiving millions of consumers and harming thousands of honest businesses,” Kathryn Dean, creator of Fake Review Watch, wrote recently in an opinion column for The Hill.

In its 2023 Transparency Report, TripAdvisor noted that fake reviews it could identify represented 4.4 percent of all submissions it received in 2022, up from 3.6 percent in 2020 and 2.4 percent in 2018.

Amazon says it “invests significant resources” to proactively stop fake reviews from being seen by customers. The company reports blocking more than 250 million suspected fake reviews in 2023.

Other mega websites—Google, Meta, Yelp—claim to work hard to spot and remove fake reviews, but critics suggest they could do more.

Cheating Can Bring Big Financial Rewards

Good reviews are good for business, and an incentive for gaming the system.

Products sold online with three or four stars have three-times-higher sales than similar products with only one star, according to research by McKinsey & Company. Even small changes in star ratings “can drive explosive growth for products—on the order of 30 to 200 percent depending on category,” the research found.

Some dishonest companies ask employees and their friends or family members to write phony glowing reviews. They can also hire third-party companies, called “review farms” or “fake review brokers” to create and post bogus reviews.

“There’s a sophisticated network out there of people that are just buying and selling and trading online reviews,” said Jason Brown, who flags fraudulent reviews on his website Review Fraud. “People can go to Google and search to buy fake reviews, or they can go on Facebook swap groups and do review exchanges.”

Brown, who’s been in the search optimization business for 18 years, told Checkbook these “shady marketers” also hijack celebrity pictures or create them with artificial intelligence, to include with their bogus testimonials to make them appear to be legitimate.

New FTC Rule Bans Fake Reviews and Testimonials

Fake reviews have always been illegal, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sued companies it alleged to have used such deceptive marketing practices. In 2022, the commission took legal action against:

• Google and iHeart Media: The FTC claimed iHeart aired thousands of first-person endorsements by its radio personalities about the Google Pixel 4 phone, even though its employees “were not provided with Pixel 4s before recording and airing most of the ads, and therefore did not own or regularly use the phones.”
• Fashion Nova: In its complaint, the FTC alleged the online fashion retailer misrepresented “that the product reviews on its website reflected the views of all purchasers who submitted reviews, when in fact it suppressed reviews with ratings lower than four stars out of five.”
• Roomster: The lawsuit filed by the FTC and six states charged the rental listing platform with buying “tens of thousands of fake four- and five-star reviews.” This practice, the lawsuit alleged, was designed to dupe people looking for affordable housing to pay for access to the company’s listings.

To combat the growing problem, the FTC created a new rule focused on reviews and testimonials. The rule, which took effect in August, spells out in detail what is prohibited and the stiff financial consequences for those who go outside the lines—$51,744 per violation.

FTC Chair Lina Khan said the new rule would protect consumers from getting cheated and honest businesses from unfair competition.

“Fake reviews not only waste people’s time and money, but also pollute the marketplace and divert business away from honest competitors,” Khan said.

The new regulation covers a variety of deceptive practices. Here are the key provisions:

• All fake or false consumer reviews and testimonials are banned: Businesses cannot write, sell, or buy consumer reviews or testimonials (from consumers or celebrities) that misrepresent they are from someone who doesn’t exist, who didn’t have actual experience with the business (its products or services), or that are not truthful about the reviewer’s experience. Companies can be held liable if they buy reviews or testimonials they knew or should have known were false or fake.
• Buying positive or negative reviews: Businesses cannot provide compensation or other incentives in return for consumer reviews that express a particular sentiment, either positive or negative. Negative reviews can be used to hurt a competitor.
• Failing to make disclosures about insider reviews and testimonials: The rule prohibits a company’s officers or managers, or other company insiders, from writing reviews or testimonials about the business (or its products or services) without clear disclosures about their relationship with the company.
• Illegally suppressing negative reviews: Businesses cannot make “unfounded or groundless” legal threats, physical threats, or use intimidation to prevent customers from writing negative reviews or to coerce them to remove negative reviews. Misrepresenting that the reviews posted are “all or most of the comments submitted” when reviews have been suppressed based on their ratings or negative sentiment is also prohibited.
• Selling and buying fake social media indicators: The rule prohibits knowingly selling or distributing fake indicators of social media influence, such as followers or views. A “fake” indicator means one “generated by a bot, a hijacked account, or that otherwise does not reflect a real individual’s or entity’s activities or opinions.”

During a recent Consumerpedia podcast, Michael Ostheimer, a senior staff attorney in the FTC’s Advertising Practices Division, told us that the commission plans to actively pursue companies that try to “hoodwink consumers and get an unfair leg up on competitors” by using bogus reviews and testimonials. “No honest business should be worried about the rule,” he said.

How to Spot Fake Reviews    

In time, the FTC’s new rule should clean up the marketplace, but it won’t stop all the deception. You should remain on guard for phony reviews and testimonials. And because of AI, it’s getting harder to spot them.

The Consumer Watchdog Office at the U.S. PIRG Education Fund has a list of ways to spot dishonest reviews. Here are the key tips:

• Check the dates: If a product or service that’s been around for a while has a lot of reviews posted in a short period of time, that could indicate a problem. Finding a diverse range of reviews from different periods of time can be more trustworthy.
• Look for similar language: Reviews could be fake if they use the same words and descriptions and/or are posted around the same time. Consumers may have been provided with a free product in return for using certain phrases in their reviews.
• Is it too complimentary? Many customers, even those who are completely satisfied, often have a critical comment about one aspect of the product or service. If you only see five-star reviews with over-the-top praise and nothing negative, be skeptical.
• Was the reviewer’s purchase verified? Some online retailers will tell you if the reviewer purchased the product and when. This doesn’t guarantee the reviews are true—the business could have ordered stuff or booked a stay from itself—but reviews from verified purchasers are more likely to be trustworthy.
• Check out the reviewer: If a reviewer has submitted only one review on one product ever, that can be a warning sign.
• Let A.I. screen reviews: Mozilla’s Fakespot browser extension can help you avoid questionable reviews. Fakespot’s algorithms analyze patterns in online reviews to identify those that are likely to be untrustworthy. It then adjusts the rating, providing consumers with review highlights, pros and cons, price history, and alternative products from reputable brands.

Influencers Often Don’t Disclose Endorsements

Teresa Murray, director of PIRG’s Consumer Watchdog office, warned listeners on Checkbook’s Consumerpedia podcast that they also need to beware of social media reviews, especially those from influencers.

“A lot of people, especially younger people, put too much stock in what they see on social media, especially Instagram and TikTok,” Murray said. “Sometimes, celebrities or people are actually paid to promote these products.”

FTC guidelines require influencers to disclose whether they’re being financially compensated for an endorsement, whether they work for the company, or whether they have a personal or family relationship with a brand they’re promoting. Some don’t provide that disclosure and some try to sneak it in. The FTC has issued warnings about this.

Don’t assume your favorite social media influencers are your friends who simply want to share the best makeup, clothing, or restaurant with you. Chances are they’re getting compensated in some way, whether they tell you that or not.

More from Checkbook:

• Shop Safely Online This Holiday Season (and All Year Long)
• Shop Like a Pro This Holiday Season: Score the Best Prices with Less Stress
• Don’t Overspend This Holiday Shopping Season