Online reviews, in addition to information provided by advertisers about a particular product and previous experience with the same or different company line of his product are the basis of the decision-making process for new age consumers. In the light of widespread technology and the web penetration, online reviews have emerged as a source of confidence.
In many ways, online reviews help to navigate as the online market continues to be crowded.
However, sometimes people indulge in behavior that deceives users with false reviews. One such incident of a new review scam now reported to have affected more than 200,000 users.
Amazon’s Infested Reviews
New data released by SecurityDetectives security analysts about the Chinese server, as reported by Apple Insider, reveals details of some of the scams and its magnitude. It’s worth adding that Amazon’s review section has been affected by false reviews and product testimonials from time to time. This often leads to more users buying the product. At higher ratings, these products also appear at the top of the list of suggestions when you search based on the ‘User Rating’ filter.
How Does the Review Work?
How does this work for Amazon retailers to send product lists to analysts. These are products they want to rate high (usually a 5 star rating). These reviewers then purchase products and give them a 5 star rating – which leads to the product being higher in the list of suggestions, making it more visible to your eyes while browsing.
Once the review has been submitted to Amazon, the reviewer sends a message back to the seller, including linking to Amazon profile and PayPal details. The reviewer then receives a refund for the purchased item and also receives a product retention. Some even earn extra money, according to the report.
Database obtained by security investigators linked to one such operation on March 1, 2021 where more than 13 million records (data costing 7GB) are handled without password protection. The website not only provided email addresses but also the WhatsApp and Telegram phone numbers of merchants who participated in the Amazon review scam. 75,000 links to Amazon accounts and PayPal account details and usernames were also found.
We will still see how Amazon plans to combat fraudulent reviews and prevent users from purchasing the wrong product.
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