Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has slapped a lawsuit against more than 1,000 freelancers of enterprising Fiverr.com as they offered to write reviews for the phony product.
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The company says it’s suing the individuals for “tarnishing Amazon’s brand for their own profit and the profit of a handful of dishonest sellers and manufacturers”.
It is seeking treble damages and an injunction against preventing the defendants from offering Amazon reviews for sale.
“In many cases, the reviews posted are entirely fake, and the “reviewer” has no knowledge whatsoever of the product or book being reviewed”, Amazon says in a complaint filed on Friday in King County Superior Court in Washington. It claims that the online seller is doing fake reviews of its products and services for as low as $5. Because online marketplaces like Amazon and Alibaba allow anyone to review products and provide virtually any review, monitoring the reviews can be a tough task.
Fraudulent reviewers take steps to avoid detection by using multiple Amazon accounts and unique IP addresses.
Amazon wants to eradicate paid-for reviews because the company believes they undermine the value of the review system. But who knows whether those reviews are true or not.
The legal action comes after The Sunday Times revealed how reviewers are selling five-star reviewers for $5 (£3.26) a time via the website Fiverr.
An investigation by Amazon included purchasing these fake customer reviews on Fiver.
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A Fiverr spokesperson said: “We have worked closely together [with Amazon] to remove services that violate our terms of use, and respond promptly to any reports of inappropriate content”. In a similar move, TripAdvisor told The Telegraph that it would also pursue legal action in order to shut down fake review providers and solicitors, and to expose those engaging in the practice.
