Fake self-reviews by scammers

[coolpop]

The positive reviews on jerseyshoredigital were all by people for whom 1) this is the only review they ever submitted and 2) they joined RR the same day they submitted. Just a bit suspicious.

Jerseyshoredigital site used to have logos of BizRate and Verisign but these have since been taken down. Perhaps people complain if you just copy the logo jpg's without the service?

Perhaps RR should relocate to Brooklyn with your loyal customers?

[nomaxim]

Originally Posted by coolpop

The positive reviews on jerseyshoredigital were all by people for whom 1) this is the only review they ever submitted and 2) they joined RR the same day they submitted. Just a bit suspicious.

Jerseyshoredigital site used to have logos of BizRate and Verisign but these have since been taken down. Perhaps people complain if you just copy the logo jpg's without the service?

Perhaps RR should relocate to Brooklyn with your loyal customers?

And perhaps you should read the sticky at the top of this section of the forum, NYOAG partners with ResellerRatings to target Internet scam artists

26 Jun 2009
ATTORNEY GENERAL CUOMO SECURES AGREEMENTS WITH SEVEN ELECTRONICS COMPANIES IN NEW YORK FOR USING ILLEGAL ONLINE BUSINESS PRACTICES TO SCAM CONSUMERS NATIONWIDE

Cuomo’s Agreements Will Deliver $665,000 in Restitution to Consumers Nationwide who were Scammed By Fraudulent Companies AG Also Announces Partnership with NY Better Business Bureau and ResellerRatings.com to Quickly Detect and Prosecute Illegal Online Business Practices
.......
Under the agreements secured today by Cuomo, two of the companies, CAMERA WIZ and SONIC PHOTO, will dissolve completely. The following five companies will completely revamp their business practices and be subject to ongoing monitoring: BEST PRICE CAMERA, FOTO CONNECTION, 1 WAY PHOTO, 86TH STREET PHOTO and BROADWAY PHOTO, LLC. All of the companies will pay substantial monies to provide restitution for consumers who were subjected to the companies’ illegal business practices.

Also,

Originally Posted by coolpop

1) this is the only review they ever submitted

If you randomly select reviews from the RR 'Store Ratings' you will find that a majority of the reviews are by one time posters.

Originally Posted by coolpop

2) they joined RR the same day they submitted. Just a bit suspicious.

Well, I would personally be a little more suspicious if they joined and then posted only one review 3 years later.
I would likely be very suspicious if they posted a review and joined a few days later.
But then again, you posted on the day you joined. Should we also be suspicious of that?

[lathca]

We do appreciate tips though -- if someone suspects fake reviews, tell us so, and we'll check them out, even going so far as to ask the customer(s) to provide copies of their credit card statements as proof of their orders in the case where we suspect that a merchant posted fake reviews. But it shouldn't be assumed that reviews are fake, or that we don't do anything to detect them.

I imagine that one way to detect fraudulent posts by merchants is to see a large disparity in ratings, i.e., ratings of either a 1 or a 5. If a merchant is getting negative reviews, the merchant may try to balance (or nip in the bud) the numbers by submitting posts based upon your rules. Who knows, they may even buy from themselves to show a transaction ID?

I am specifically thinking about westviewgames.com. Two of the posts are 1's (one by me), and the other is a 5. I know this is not a significant number to make a generalization, but a customer seeing this kind of disparity should think twice and do more investigation.

The site that led me to Westviewgames. com was Google Products which gave them a 5-star seller rating, where coincidentally one of those reviews appeared verbatim on this site. They all praise how fast the product is shipped, which according to BBB was one of their problems, along with not refunding and not trying to resolve complaints. The BBB report does not seem to reflect a 5-star company at all.

[drewcrewof2]

I must respectfully agree, take a look at the RR pages for "Partsgeek"... Now I am not a psychologist... but I am not stupid either... This fast series of all positive cookie cutter reporting is obviously being planted. Normal people just don't talk this way. All are first time reports, as others have pointed out. There is a steady unrelenting stream... phony to be sure. Take look at eBay for example - the wording belies the person’s cultural background(s). All of these are cut and pasted, I have even seen the exact lines on Partsgeek from a different person a page apart. Now how did that manage to happen?

10/18/09 2:16 PM

Prices very good, shipping prompt. What's not to like?


10/27/09 8:35 AM

Got the right part at a good price in a timely maner, and they didn't rip me off on shiping. What's not to like?


RR Admin sir, something smell funny 2 U 2?!

[Admin RR]

The site that led me to Westviewgames. com was Google Products which gave them a 5-star seller rating, where coincidentally one of those reviews appeared verbatim on this site.

That's not a coincidence. Our reviews are syndicated to Google Product Search -- it was a ResellerRatings review that you read.

[Admin RR]

Originally Posted by drewcrewof2

This fast series of all positive cookie cutter reporting is obviously being planted.

a) Many retailers use our exit survey. This is a popup window that appears to customers after checkout, asking them to write a review. We then follow up with the customer in a week to obtain their review. The exit survey is responsible for the "fast series" of reviews that you see at most retailers here.

b) We have access to data that you do not: IP addresses, cookies, email addresses (which are verified), invoice numbers, and we have the ability to contact a reviewer to obtain order documentation (which we do) when in doubt. It is not difficult to detect fake reviews.

Almost every day we catch a merchant writing fake reviews, we delete them, and we post a public admin note to their page detailing our findings. If you were thinking of trying that, don't.