Amazon Plans on Suing Fake Product Reviewers

By R. Brownell

The internet sales giant Amazon is organizing a major court action “to strip 1,114 alleged fake reviewers of their anonymity and force them to pay damages for the ‘manipulation and deception’ of its customers,”according to court documents filed this past week.

It is the first time a company has attacked its own site reviewers on this grand of scale, according to the Sunday Times, “the clampdown comes after an undercover Sunday Times investigation, in which a ghostwritten ebook was published on Amazon and fake reviewers were paid to push it.” BBC News was able to find out more details involving the action which further prompted the lawsuit:

Amazon said it had conducted an investigation, which included purchasing fake customer reviews on Fiverr from people who promised five-star ratings and offered to allow purchasers to write reviews.

It said it had observed fake review sellers attempting to avoid detection by using multiple accounts from unique IP addresses. Amazon said the lawsuit was not targeting Fiverr, which is not a defendant in the complaint. Fiverr said it was working with Amazon to resolve the issue.

“Amazon is bringing this action to protect its customers from this misconduct, by stopping defendants and uprooting the ecosystem in which they participate,” the lawsuit says.

More details to come as information regarding the case are released.