Amazon is expanding its efforts to shut down fake review brokers by filing its first criminal complaint in Italy, filing its first civil lawsuit in Spain and launching another 10 lawsuits in the U.S. The ecommerce giant is targeting more than 11,000 websites and social media groups accused of attempting to orchestrate fake reviews on Amazon and elsewhere in exchange for money or free products.
The Italian criminal complaint is Amazon’s first in Europe and states that the defendant claims to have built a network of individuals who are willing to buy products on Amazon and post five-star reviews in exchange for a full refund. Amazon is seeking penalties that could include imprisonment and fines to signal its determination to stop bad actors who profit from misleading customers.
The civil lawsuit in Spain is against a fake review broker called Agencia Reviews, which allegedly communicates through the instant messaging service Telegram to evade detection. Amazon’s investigations have found that the company allegedly fully reimburses customers once they publish a fake five-star review.
Amazon also has sent warning letters to five Germany-based websites that were directing visitors to a fake review broker. All agreed to stop this activity by signing cease and desist letters.
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“Holding bad actors accountable through litigation and criminal referrals is one of many important ways that we protect customers so they can shop with confidence,” said Dharmesh Mehta, VP of Selling Partner Services at Amazon in a statement. “In addition to continuing to advance our robust detection and prevention of fake reviews in our store, Amazon will remain relentless in identifying and enforcing against bad actors that attempt to engage in review abuse. There is no place for fake reviews on Amazon or anywhere else in the industry.”
Amazon has been taking fake reviews seriously, including launching a lawsuit against the administrators of more than 10,000 Facebook groups accused of trying to orchestrate fake reviews in exchange for money or free products. The groups allegedly posted fake reviews on Amazon stores around the world, including in the U.S., the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Japan.
The ecommerce giant also has a dedicated team of investigators, lawyers, analysts and other specialists who track down fake review brokers, piece together evidence about how they operate and take legal action against them. The team seeks assistance and support from other industry players as well as government agencies, regulatory bodies and law enforcement to improve detection and increase enforcement action against fake review brokers.
