In 2019, orthopedic surgeon Mark Mohrmann successfully performed a procedure, after which his patient turned to Yelp, a review website, to share their gratitude. “Dr. Mark made me feel like I was in good hands,” the patient wrote in a five-star review. The only problem was that the author was not a real patient, and there was no procedure. The review was fake and part of an effort to boost Mohrmann’s business ratings online with positive fake reviews, according to an analysis by Fake Review Watch, an industry watchdog. Last month, Mohrmann agreed to pay a $100,000 fine to settle with the New York Attorney General’s office on charges of deceptive practices with fake reviews. Mohrmann’s fake review is just one example of the multi-billion-dollar industry of fake reviews, in which individuals and businesses pay marketing professionals to post fake positive reviews on platforms like Google Maps, Amazon, Yelp, and others, deceiving millions of customers each year. Fake reviews are as old as the internet itself, but they are illegal and prohibited on online platforms. However, the fake review business continues to thrive. Now, for the first time, a wave of regulations and measures from tech companies is merging into a more coordinated effort to turn the tide. Last summer, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed a broad rule to punish companies that buy or sell fake reviews, among other restrictions. In October, several online platforms, including Amazon and Expedia, announced a coalition that will share information and resources to combat review fraud. At the end of last month, New York Attorney General Letitia James issued her own statewide warning, stating in a statement that fake reviews were “illegal and unacceptable.” However, experts warn that the problem of fake reviews may be so widespread that it is impossible to tackle, and they point out that fake review authors have already survived severe measures. Jason Brown, founder of Review Fraud, a consumer advocacy website that has exposed businesses using fake reviews, commented that platforms have not done enough to address the problem, but acknowledged that regulators’ and companies’ concerns were growing. “Everyone is feeling the pressure,” he said. “Time will tell.” Almost all fake reviews are positive opinions, such as four or five stars, written by the companies themselves or created by digital marketing specialists whose services can be purchased online for a few dollars per review. Many of these deceptive specialists are based overseas, limiting the FTC’s power to combat the problem. Additionally, artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT threaten to overwhelm the industry by making it easier to write fake reviews, the agency warned. Fake reviews are so widespread that almost every online shopper has encountered them. Amazon stated that last year it blocked over 200 million suspicious reviews, and Google announced that in 2022 it had removed 115 million rule-breaking reviews from Maps, a 20% increase compared to the previous year. In its proposed rule, the FTC refrained from imposing new regulations on tech giants, referring instead to a federal law that exempts companies from liability for content posted on their platforms. Instead, the agency focused on investigating and penalizing companies that buy or sell online reviews, in some cases with fines of $50,000 or more. “The rule will not apply to the architects of the entire corrupt system, but to review platforms and tech companies that benefit from online reviews, whether real or fake,” said Kay Dean, a former federal criminal investigator who leads Fake Review Watch. Dean started her initiative after fake online reviews deceived her about a psychiatric consultation. On her YouTube channel, she documents in detail hundreds of businesses using fake or suspicious reviews, from moving companies to medical offices. Often, her investigations rely on identifying review authors who rate unrelated businesses across the United States, a clear sign of fraud. She found that 19 of Mohrmann’s alleged patients had also left glowing reviews on Google Maps for the same moving company in Las Vegas, and apparently 18 others used the same locksmith in Texas. In an email statement through his lawyer, Mohrmann claimed that “healthcare professionals focus on patient care and are sometimes unaware of the measures taken by contracted companies to manage online reputation or search engine optimization.” The New York Attorney General’s office stated that Mohrmann had “asked friends, family, and employees to leave positive five-star reviews” and that his wife had written some of them. Some review analysts, like Dean, blamed Google and other major platforms for perpetuating the problem. These websites often rely on customers to police fake reviews themselves and generally do not disclose when a business has engaged in suspicious behavior, allowing scammers to continue posting fraudulent reviews after removing old ones. The Transparency Company, an industry watchdog that develops software to analyze and detect fake reviews, has identified over 100,000 companies using fake and suspicious reviews to enhance their digital image, often in ways that are invisible to unsuspecting customers. “One of the reasons I chose to focus on detecting Google fake reviews and not those on Amazon and others is because of the harm to consumers,” said Curtis Boyd, founder of The Transparency Company. “A faulty $10 kitchen knife or cheap Bluetooth headphones won’t ruin a family. Choosing the wrong doctor, lawyer, or contractor can ruin your life.” An analysis by The Transparency Company revealed that half of the reviews on Mohrmann’s Google Maps profile are “highly suspicious,” and many accounts are connected to India, Vietnam, and the United Kingdom. Mohrmann maintains a rating of 4.5 on Google Maps, compared to just 2.5 stars on Yelp. (The last identified suspicious Google review was posted a year ago). Mohrmann’s lawyer said they were “working closely with the New York Attorney General’s office and other agencies to remove inauthentic reviews.” Google Maps has become one of the largest review platforms worldwide. The company filed its own lawsuit in June against another person who posted over 14,000 fake reviews, according to court records. “When we find bad actors trying to deceive people, we take swift action ranging from removing their content to suspending their accounts and even litigation,” said Ian Leader, Google Maps’ product management director, in an emailed statement. Amazon seemed to anticipate the new FTC regulations in June when it announced a plan to crack down on fake reviews. In a blog post, the company acknowledged that an illicit industry of “fake review brokers” had emerged and promised to take strong action. The company increased funding to investigate fake review schemes and noted that it would exchange information with rival companies. By October, Amazon had joined other major review portals like Expedia to create the Coalition for Trusted Reviews, a collaboration seeking to create shared standards for analyzing reviews and allowing companies to exchange information on operating methods…
