Uncovered a network of 200,000 people who published fake reviews on Amazon in exchange for free products

A leak of an online database has exposed a network of more than 200,000 people who published reviews with false product ratings on Amazon in exchange for receiving free products, as announced by the website SafetyDetectives.

The database was exposed between March 1 and 6, 2021, when its suppliers, still unknown, returned to protect it and make it inaccessible.

Among the leaked information are email addresses, as well as phone numbers from which WhatsApp and Telegram messages were sent in the case of sellers; In the case of the people who published the reviews, the data made public includes their Amazon accounts and the emails that appear in the Paypal accounts. The case makes clear (once again) the existence of a "very large and very active" fake review market, in the words of Davide Proserpio, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Southern California.

The information found outlines a common procedure.

Sellers send reviewers a list of articles.

People who provide this score are supposed to buy the products and leave a 5-star review on Amazon within days of receiving the merchandise.

After the purchase is complete, the provider of the fake review will send a message to the seller with a link to their Amazon profile, along with their PayPal details.

Once the seller confirms that all reviews have been completed, the reviewer will receive a refund on this payment platform, reports SafetyDetectives.

This way you can keep the items you bought for free.

Not using the Amazon platform for these refunds is important, as this makes it appear legitimate and does not arouse the suspicions of moderators.

More information

• Would you sell your opinion for a sofa cover?

  The consequences of fake reviews on Amazon

A 2018 analysis by

indicated that in some popular categories, such as

headphones and speakers

, the majority of reviews seemed paid.

Another study published in 2019 by the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) indicated that 8.4% of the products sold on Amazon had “a score significantly affected by interested opinions”.

Davide Proserpio himself conducted a study last year together with other researchers from the University of Southern California, which concluded that a wide range of products on Amazon have fake reviews bought on Facebook.

Among them, some with many ratings and a high average rating.

These authors indicate that fake reviews often cause a "significant increase" in the average rating of a product.

And also a growth in the number of sales.

But the effect is temporary: it disappears after about a month.

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