Amazon Targets Fake Review Fraudsters on Social Media
19.7.2022 07:00:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) today filed legal action against the administrators of more than 10,000 Facebook groups that attempt to orchestrate fake reviews on Amazon in exchange for money or free products. These groups are set up to recruit individuals willing to post incentivized and misleading reviews on Amazon’s stores in the U.S., the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Japan.
Amazon will use information discovered in this legal action to identify bad actors and remove fake reviews commissioned by these fraudsters that haven’t already been detected by Amazon’s advanced technology, expert investigators, and continuous monitoring.
“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,” said Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon’s vice president of Selling Partner Services. “Proactive legal action targeting bad actors is one of many ways we protect customers by holding bad actors accountable.”
The fraudsters behind such groups solicit fake reviews for hundreds of products available for sale on Amazon, including car stereos and camera tripods. One of the groups identified in the lawsuit is “Amazon Product Review,” which had more than 43,000 members until Meta took down the group earlier this year. Amazon’s investigations revealed that the group’s administrators attempted to hide their activity and evade Facebook’s detection, in part by obfuscating letters from problematic phrases.
Amazon strictly prohibits fake reviews and has more than 12,000 employees around the world dedicated to protecting its stores from fraud and abuse, including fake reviews. A dedicated team investigates fake review schemes on social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, and regularly reports the abusive groups to those companies. Since 2020, Amazon has reported more than 10,000 fake review groups to Meta. Of these, Meta has taken down more than half of the groups for policy violations and continues to investigate others.
Amazon was a pioneer of product reviews, having introduced them in 1995 to help customers make more informed shopping decisions. The company aims to ensure every review that appears in its stores is trustworthy and reflects an actual customer experience. Amazon’s expert investigators use industry-leading tools to detect and block fake reviews. As a result, Amazon proactively stopped more than 200 million suspected fake reviews in 2020 alone.
Today’s legal action is the latest step by Amazon aimed at stopping fraudsters who attempt to post fake reviews in Amazon’s stores. In the past year, legal action from Amazon has shut down multiple major review brokers targeting customers in the U.S., the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.
However, the nefarious business of brokering fake reviews remains an industry-wide problem, and civil litigation is only one step. Permanently ridding fake reviews across retail, travel, and other sectors will require greater public-private partnership, including collaboration between the affected companies, social media sites, and law enforcement, all focused on a goal of greater consumer protection. Amazon remains eager to continue to partner with all the relevant stakeholders to achieve that mutual goal.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Amazon strives to be Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company, Earth’s Best Employer, and Earth’s Safest Place to Work. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Career Choice, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, Alexa, Just Walk Out technology, Amazon Studios, and The Climate Pledge are some of the things pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220718005747/en/
Contact information
Amazon.com, Inc.
Media Hotline
Amazon-pr@amazon.com
www.amazon.com/pr
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
JPMorganChase Named First-Ever Global Banking Partner of the Olympic Games28.4.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and JPMorganChase today announced a landmark Worldwide Olympic Partnership, making JPMorganChase the first Global Banking Partner in Olympic history. The partnership includes the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games (LA28 Games) and the French Alps 2030 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The firm has also reached an agreement with LA28 to become the Official Bank of Team USA and LA28, and a Founding Partner of the LA28 Games. The partnership reflects a shared commitment to ambition and excellence, and places athletes and communities at its core. Kirsty Coventry, President of the IOC, commented: “JPMorganChase is the first Global Partner from the banking sector in Olympic history, and we are proud to welcome them to the Worldwide Olympic Partner programme. This partnership reflects our shared values of ambition, excellence and will support the Olympic Movement and sport around the world. JPMorganChase’s global reach and expertise will
BlueSnap, Powered by Payroc, Launches Local Acquiring in New Zealand to Boost Approval Rates and Reduce Cross-Border Costs28.4.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release
BlueSnap, powered by Payroc, today announced the availability of local acquiring in New Zealand, expanding its global payment orchestration capabilities and enabling businesses to process transactions domestically. Local acquiring allows businesses with a legal entity in New Zealand to process payments through domestic acquiring banks rather than routing transactions cross-border. This helps increase authorization rates, reduce payment failures, and lower transaction costs, critical factors for businesses selling into the region. Why Local Acquiring in New Zealand Matters For B2B and B2C businesses operating globally, cross-border payments often lead to higher fees and lower approval rates. Building local acquiring infrastructure independently requires managing multiple bank relationships, compliance, and integrations, making it costly and complex. BlueSnap simplifies this by providing local acquiring through a single platform, allowing businesses with a legal entity in New Zealand to
Vensica Medical Receives FDA IND Clearance to Initiate Phase 2 Study of ViXe, Its Needle-Free Xeomin ® Delivery System for Overactive Bladder28.4.2026 15:42:00 EEST | Press release
Vensica Medical, a clinical-stage company developing needle-free therapeutic delivery solutions for urologic diseases, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the Company’s Investigational New Drug (IND) application to initiate a Phase 2 clinical trial of ViXe. The study will evaluate the Vibe® ultrasound-based, needle-free drug delivery system in combination with Xeomin® (incobotulinumtoxinA) for the treatment of overactive bladder (OAB). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260414145279/en/ Avner Geva, Cofounder, CEO (left), and Avi Eftel, Cofounder, CTO (right) Overactive bladder affects an estimated 33 million adults in the United States and is characterized by urinary urgency, frequency, and incontinence. While intravesical botulinum toxin injection is an established second-line treatment, the invasive procedure limits patient access and acceptance. The ViXe program is desi
Printing the Future of Oncology: CTIBIOTECH Invests €3M and Secures €1.25M from France 2030 to Revolutionize Personalized Cancer Care28.4.2026 15:28:00 EEST | Press release
CTIBIOTECH Announces the CTIONCOTEST ™ Project to Revolutionize Cancer Research with 3D Bioprinted Microtumors, Backed by France 2030 and Bpifrance This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260428242352/en/ The CTIONCOTEST™ platform by CTIBIOTECH is an innovative 3D bioprinting technology that revolutionizes preclinical cancer research . It provides an automated, industrial-scale process to produce high-throughput, patient-specific human "microtumors" directly from primary tumor cells . Designed to tackle the 95% clinical failure rate of new cancer drugs, it faithfully replicates the complex tumor microenvironment, including critical hypoxic and necrotic zones . Targeting high-mortality breast, colon, and pancreatic cancers, the platform features three complexity levels: standard (cancer cells), intermediate (+fibroblasts), and advanced (+immune/endothelial cells) . A key breakthrough is its record cellular viability of
BMG and Concord Combine to Create World’s Leading Independent Music Company28.4.2026 15:11:00 EEST | Press release
BMG and Concord today announced a definitive agreement to combine their businesses, creating the leading independent music company in the world. Operating under the BMG name, the combined company will bring together two highly complementary businesses to establish a scaled, global company delivering superior service to artists, songwriters, and partners – firmly grounded in an independent, artist-first model. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260427537841/en/ Thomas Coesfeld and Bob Valentine, Courtesy of BMG and Concord The combination comes amid significant transformation in the global music market, where scale, global reach, and technology investment are increasingly critical to remain competitive. Together, BMG and Concord will form a fully integrated global music company spanning music publishing, recorded music, theatrical rights, and digital distribution. This increased scale will enable deeper investment
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom