Amazon to Seize 75 ‘Fake Review’ Websites After Court Victory

Amazon said Thursday (July 31) that it won a lawsuit enabling it to shut down a network that marketed fake reviews and fake Amazon seller accounts.

The lawsuit targeted two individuals who operated more than 75 websites, and the court’s ruling ordered the transfer of the ownership of these domains to Amazon, the company said in a Thursday press release.

The network sold services offering fake reviews on fraudsters’ product listings, fake negative reviews on competitors’ product listings and fake Amazon seller accounts to sellers who had been suspended, according to the release.

The fraudsters targeted not only Amazon but also other businesses in the retail, social media, travel, real estate and payment sectors, per the release.

“We have no tolerance for bad actors who attempt to undermine the integrity of our store and the authentic experiences of our customers,” Claire O’Donnell, vice president of selling partner trust and store integrity at Amazon, said in the release. “This legal victory represents another step in our ongoing efforts to protect customers from fake reviews.”

Amazon said in October that it used legal action and technology to combat fake reviews and prevent those reviews from being seen by customers.

The company said it pursued legal action against more than 150 fake review brokers in 2023 and used technology to detect and proactively block more than 250 million suspected fake reviews during that same year.

Amazon filed its first lawsuit against fake review brokers in 2015.

The company said in August 2023 that a “‘fake review broker’ industry” had emerged and had become the primary driver of fake reviews.

“These brokers approach customers directly through websites, social media channels and encrypted messaging services, soliciting them to write fake reviews in exchange for money, free products, or other incentives,” Amazon said at the time in a blog post. “These fraudsters knowingly conduct illicit activity in an attempt to deceive Amazon customers and harm Amazon selling partners through the facilitation of fake reviews and other fake content.”

A PYMNTS Intelligence report published in 2020, the June edition of the “Mobile Order-Ahead Tracker®,” found that social media platforms and review websites were wrought with fraud that included fake reviews.