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
HistoSonics Opens Expanded Histotripsy Training Center in Hong Kong20.7.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
HistoSonics today announced the opening of its expanded Histotripsy Training Center in Hong Kong, reinforcing the city's position as a leading hub for physician education, clinical collaboration, and innovation in Asia. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260720812810/en/ Pictured at the expanded Histotripsy Training Center in Hong Kong. Front row (left to right): Dr. Angus Yuen, Chief Medical Officer, Gleneagles Hospital Hong Kong; Prof. Albert Chan, Director of Liver Cancer Surgery Centre, Gleneagles Hospital Hong Kong; Dr. Kenneth Tsang, Regional Chief Executive Officer, IHH Healthcare North Asia, and Chief Executive Officer, Gleneagles Hospital Hong Kong; Dr. Vince Lau, Director of Interventional Radiology Centre, Gleneagles Hospital Hong Kong; Dr. Joe Herman, Vice President, Medical Affairs, HistoSonics. Back row (left to right): Jay Lee, APAC Regional Manager, HistoSonics; Eric Kwong, Hong Kong Sales Manager
Shaping a Generation Through Dialogue: Inside the Doha Debates Ambassador Program20.7.2026 14:29:00 EEST | Press release
In a world shaped by change and competing narratives, the ability to listen, question and engage in constructive dialogue has never been more critical. Through the Doha Debates Ambassador Program, a production of Qatar Foundation, young people from around the world are not only learning these skills, but actively applying them in their communities, careers and areas of study. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260720452437/en/ Shaping a Generation Through Dialogue: Inside the Doha Debates Ambassador Program. Applications are open for young people from around the world to learn to engage and lead through truth-seeking conversations about complex global issues. (Photo: AETOSWire) This online educational program teaches young people from across the globe to debate differently. Rather than engaging in a Western-style battle of ideas, participants take an approach to dialogue that is grounded in the Majlis—a welcoming
Kinaxis Appoints Herb Yeh as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer20.7.2026 14:01:00 EEST | Press release
Kinaxis® Inc. (TSX:KXS), a global leader in supply chain planning and orchestration, today announced the appointment of Herb Yeh as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer, effective July 27, 2026. In this role, Yeh will oversee the global finance organization and corporate strategy operations at Kinaxis, leading all Finance, Accounting, Investor Relations, Corporate Strategy, and Corporate Development. He will work closely with the executive leadership team and Board of Directors to support disciplined execution, long-term growth, and shareholder value creation. "Herb has spent his career working with boards and management teams at their most critical inflection points in enterprise software, and we are thrilled to have him join Kinaxis," said Razat Gaurav, Chief Executive Officer of Kinaxis. "He has followed Kinaxis and the broader supply chain technology sector closely for more than a decade, and that depth of perspective, paired with his expertise advising companies on c
IFF Announces Agreement to Sell Its Portfolio of Botanical Extracts, Vitamins & Minerals and Food Enhancement Activities to SuanNutra, a Portfolio Company of Carbyne Equity Partners.20.7.2026 13:45:00 EEST | Press release
IFF (NYSE: IFF) — a global leader in flavors, fragrances, and health and biosciences — today announced that it has entered into an agreement with SuanNutra, a Carbyne Equity Partners portfolio company and global provider of science-backed branded and functional ingredients, to sell its portfolio of botanical extracts, vitamins and minerals, and food enhancement activities, including its range of natural colors and antioxidants and certain localized flavor activities in Peru. The portfolio serves a broad range of food, beverage and nutritional end markets through a comprehensive selection of customized solutions. “These businesses are highly respected, and we are confident they will continue to thrive under the ownership of SuanNutra and Carbyne,” said Erik Fyrwald, CEO IFF. “This transaction is another step in optimizing our portfolio and reinforces our focus on our core innovation-led businesses — Taste, Scent and Health & Biosciences — where we see the greatest opportunities to drive
NIQ Appoints Irina Stoian as Chief AI Commercial Officer20.7.2026 13:45:00 EEST | Press release
NIQ today announced that Irina Stoian has joined the company as Chief AI Commercial Officer, a newly created role designed to accelerate NIQ’s enterprise AI commercial strategy and help clients turn the company’s AI capabilities into business impact and growth. Stoian will help align Product, Technology, Commercial, Partnerships, and Marketing around a unified AI growth strategy. Her remit includes shaping commercial AI offerings, strategic partnerships, pricing and business models, and deeper integration of NIQ capabilities into client workflows. The appointment builds on NIQ’s broader AI strategy, which positions the company as a trusted intelligence infrastructure powering AI-driven commerce. Across its AI portfolio, including ConnectAI, NIQ Optiq™, and NIQ Cadence™, NIQ is expanding how clients access trusted data, intelligence, and AI-powered workflows. “AI is not a feature we are adding to NIQ; it is core to our product strategy,” said Jim Peck, Chief Executive Officer of NIQ. “I
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