Facebook axes 16,000 groups for trading fake reviews after UK intervenes

Re:Facebook axes 16,000 groups for trading fake reviews afte... by skd-fs on Friday April 09, 2021 @09:45AM (#26750484)

Not surprising at all at this point. At Fakespot we've noticed a huge surge in fake reviews that originate from Facebook groups where sellers and professional reviewers meet.

The way it works is that a seller provides some kind of incentive (gift card, paypal money, etc) to write a 5 star or even 1 star review (for competitors). Facebook has hosted these groups and they have exploded in numbers in the last year.

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Re:Facebook axes 16,000 groups for trading fake reviews afte... by liquidpele on Friday April 09, 2021 @11:14AM (#26751549)

They also put “you’re a lucky customer” offer cards offering Amazon gift cards with the items. We emailed a hotmail account to get a $15 Amazon card for filling out a review. Then they offered an extra $10 to make it 5 star.

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Re:Facebook axes 16,000 groups for trading fake reviews afte... by colejohnson66 on Friday April 09, 2021 @12:36PM (#26752675)

Couldn’t one make the review, take the money, then delete the review after redeeming the card?

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Re:Facebook axes 16,000 groups for trading fake reviews afte... by jayrot on Friday April 09, 2021 @12:53PM (#26752899)

I'd imagine you could but enough people just don't bother that it still ends up worth it.

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Re:Facebook axes 16,000 groups for trading fake reviews afte... by TeMPOraL on Friday April 09, 2021 @02:15PM (#26753965)

And/or, the set of people who'd have qualms about leaving a fake review, but were perfectly willing to cheat a stranger out of $15, is empty. Not to mention, it would kill an opportunity for repeat business.

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