A latest investigation reveals an industry increasingly thriving to generate fake reviews and opinions on online stores like Amazon.

Increasingly fierce competition leads some online sellers to falsify their reviews in digital stores. The British portal Which? detected up to 10 pages with offers of this type at the end of 2020.

They offer massive review manipulation, sometimes in exchange for free or discounted products. The study has found up to 702,000 review writers at five different companies dedicated to this hoax.

Which? explain that companies like AMZTigers based in Germany has 62,000 writers at your disposal all over the world. Their prices are around 700 euros for 50 reviews or about 9,000 euros for 1,000 reviews.

An Amazon spokesperson, explica a BBC that from the online store delete “false reviews and we take action against anyone involved in the abuseProducts in which fake reviews can be found range from children’s toys to sports devices for which the writers of these fake reviews can get discounts.

Since Which? They also offer a very complete guide to recognize those false reviews when we have to buy a product through the network. Let’s remember that not only Amazon suffers this plague of false comments, eBay signed agreements with the CMA (UK Markets and Competition Authority) to “better identify, investigate and respond to false and misleading reviews.”

Reviews with many photos– Sellers encourage taking product photos of forcibly positive reviews. It is not a clear symptom of scam, but which one is wondering? “How likely is it that so many people spend time taking so many photos for a review in an online store?

Many reviews in a short time– Another common pattern is the appearance of many positive reviews in a few days. This behavior is suspicious if we are dealing with a little-known brand.

Reviews that talk about another product: The British media says that sellers often merge positive reviews between various products. You may be interested in headphones and see reviews praising a video game or smartphone that have nothing to do with the product itself. So it is advisable to read all the reviews carefully and not get carried away by scores.

When buying online, it is important to spend some time doing an exhaustive search. Do not get carried away by quick offers if we have not carefully studied the product, the reviews and the purchase conditions provided by the brand and the online store beforehand.