Amazon Fake Reviews Scam Exposed in Data Breach
It's nice to see hard evidence of this, but anecdotal evidence is plain to see on Amazon.com reviews. For example, a product gets a lot of 5 star reviews stating that the buyer bought it for their child/relative/friend and they are just <i>sure</i> that they will love it... 5 stars! Or "I just got this delivered yesterday and I haven't used it yet but it looks really great!"... 5 stars.<p>These are then immediately followed by a 1 star review along the lines of "This is the biggest piece of junk I've ever bought online. Will be returning to Amazon. DO NOT BUY!"<p>These aren't to be confused with the indiscriminate idiots who can't be bothered to use their brains, who leave mindless reviews such as "This is junk but it was cheap and kinda works... 5 stars!" Right.<p>Most times this trend of 5's followed by 1's is seen even in the first page of reviews. It's a serious problem with the platform. I usually search for reviews written by people who have had the product for a week or two and give the pros/cons along with a less than 5 star rating. That helps me avoid the fakes <i>and</i> the idiots.<p>This makes me wonder why Amazon, in all their analytical genius, isn't cracking down on this when it's so blatantly obvious.