October 24, 2024 • By Dennis Beaver
How often have you read a glowing online review–about a business, lawyer, physician, you name it, anything–believed the review, bought the product, dined in the restaurant, or hired the person, only to be disappointed?
Do you know what the Federal Trade Commission, which has always had the power to outlaw fake reviews, did about the problem over the past several years?
Absolutely nothing!
Until this past August, the FTC had been sitting on its hands for years. In fact, the sick joke is that when measured against their performance, their own mission statement qualifies as a fake review:
“To prevent business practices that are anti-competitive, deceptive or unfair to consumers; to enhance informed consumer choice and public understanding of the competitive process; and to accomplish this without unduly burdening legitimate business activity.”
The Cowardly Lion Found Some Courage
But, on Aug. 14 this year, like the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, the Federal Trade Commission announced a rule that will combat fake reviews and testimonials by prohibiting their sale or purchase and seek civil penalties against knowing violators.
“This is music to the ears of thousands in the business community and consumers who have become victims of misleading and outright fake online reviews,” says Damian Rollison, Director of Market Insights at SOCi, a marketing platform, based in San Diego, working with over a thousand brands to manage their online presence.
How consumers are harmed by fake and misleading reviews
Rollison explained the nature of fake and misleading online reviews, “it is too easy for businesses to acquire fake or fraudulent reviews that are often very hard for consumers to detect, and see the difference between a fake and a real review. Their goal is to bias people towards those businesses in an unfair way. Consumers are aware that fake reviews exist online, but don’t necessarily have the best tools to know what is real and what is fake.
“The whole thing is insidious. Essentially, consumers are being duped into thinking that their peers are recommending products and services when in fact the business is behind all of this, providing it an unfair advantage. This is especially important when it comes to local business reviews, and to services that are central to your life and livelihood,” he points out.
“Dennis, just think of health, medical or legal services where we find a great deal of fake review content. Another place where it is especially critical are services that people need in an emergency. Think about a locksmith or a garage door repair service. Are they legit or scammers?”
This made me think of the calls I’ve received from readers looking for an attorney, were deeply influenced by impressive “client” reviews, only to discover that the lawyer had gotten in trouble with their state bar with the reader’s type of case.
Real or Fake? Are There any Clues?
You are no doubt thinking, ‘are there giveaways that suggest what I am reading is a fake review?’
“Yes,” Rollison says, and cites, “reviews that seem suspiciously enthusiastic as though they are shilling for that company, sounding like a TV commercial or an advertisement would immediately tip me off. Some experts have even said that reviews that simply contain too many exclamation points as a sign of enthusiasm ought to be looked at suspiciously.
For example, ‘This is the best carpet cleaning service in Miami,’ and phrases like that suggest to me that the people who own the business are trying to rank higher in search engines. Also, it is a sign that the review might be fraudulent.
Which Reviews to Read First?
So, what should we read first? The positive or negative reviews?
“A lot of people feel that it is best to read negative reviews first. There is an instinct on the behalf of consumers that negative reviews are more likely to be honest. We might not want to be too quick to assume that all fake reviews are positive because there are examples where competitors post negative reviews of a business and those reviews are also fraudulent. So you want to be diligent, suspicious in general and skeptical of review content that may look suspicious even though it is true.”
I asked Rollison which platforms do a better job at removing suspect reviews?
“Let me draw a contrast between Yelp and Google. We have done research which shows that the average five star rating of a business on Google is 4.2 stars – and that’s pretty high, while the average rating on Yelp is 3.2 stars,
“At least one of the reasons for that, we believe, is that Yelp has historically been much more aggressive in removing reviews that are suspected to be fake.”
“But you still need to use common sense, look for online praise followed by exclamation marks and be very, very cautions,” Rollison concludes.
Now, let’s see if the FTC decides to go after the billion dollar language app fraud, Babbel.
Dennis Beaver Practices law in Bakersfield and welcomes comments and questions from readers,
which may be faxed to (661) 323-7993,
or e-mailed to Lagombeaver1 – at – Gmail.com.