Back in 2020 I went undercover to infiltrate the Amazon Fake Review Scam, then wrote about this "dark industry" on this blog.  If you haven't read our post yet, be sure to do so! 

Despite the effort I put into unraveling this scam, nothing came of it.  2 YEARS have passed with absolutely no action being taken.... until today...

One of my fav newsletters, Retail Drive, just published this bombshell report!  Enjoy!

In its Tuesday statement, Amazon stressed the need for collaboration between companies, social media platforms and law enforcement to protect consumers in retail, travel and other sectors from fraudulent reviews. The company currently has over 12,000 employees devoted to detecting fake reviews and other forms of fraud and abuse.

Amazon has reported more than 10,000 false review groups to Meta since 2020. Meta, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, has taken down more than half of these groups for violating its rules and is investigating more alleged fraudsters, according to the release.

“Groups that solicit or encourage fake reviews violate our policies and are removed,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement to Retail Dive. “We are working with Amazon on this matter and will continue to partner across the industry to address spam and fake reviews.”

For years, Amazon has used the courts to target fraudulent reviewers and counterfeit sellers. In 2016, the e-commerce behemoth sued three merchants for allegedly sharing positive reviews about their products via fake accounts. Earlier this year, the company filed lawsuits against AppSally and Rebatest, accusing the two sites of orchestrating the posting of fraudulent product reviews in exchange for free goods or money. The retailer has also teamed up with K.F. Beauty, Valentino and Salvatore Ferragamo to sue alleged counterfeit sellers on its platform as the company contends with knockoffs.

In addition to Facebook, Amazon said it has a team of investigators to find fake review schemes on platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Twitter and reports its findings to those companies.

“Our teams stop millions of suspicious reviews before they’re ever seen by customers, and this lawsuit goes a step further to uncover perpetrators operating on social media,” Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon’s vice president of selling partner services, said in a statement. “Proactive legal action targeting bad actors is one of many ways we protect customers by holding bad actors accountable.”

- And be sure to read Retail Drive!  They send out a fantastic newsletter that will keep you up to date on EVERYTHING retail-related!