Most users of the world visit the e-commerce platform Amazon for online shopping as it lists as one of the world’s best e-shopping platforms. However, when it comes down to online shopping, most customers seek the help of User Reviews to understand which product should be purchased on Amazon and which do not, according to various other user’s preferences. However, several questions have been raised recently on whether the reviews shown on the website are actually true or not. In accordance with that, a new fake review scam has come to light, due to which more than 2 lakh users have been affected.
The data shared by the Security Researchers of Safety Directives are linked to the Chinese server. The information related to the scam has been given in the report of Apple Insider. Amazon’s review section has been a victim of fake reviews and feedback of products for a very long time. Due to such fake reviews, products appear above the search, and many users tend to buy that particular product. Usually, the products with better ratings appear above when user rating filters are used or enabled.
Reports state that Amazon vendors send a list of products to the fake reviewers of the products in which vendors want a high (5 star) rating. After that is done, these fake reviewers buy the products and give them a 5-star rating. After the review is published, the reviewer sends a message to the product vendor, including a link to the Amazon profile. Moving further, the reviewer gets a refund in lieu of the product purchased, and the product does not have to be returned either.
The database associated with such a scam surfaced on March 1, 2021, to security researchers, in which 13 million records (7GB of total data) were hosted without any password protection. The database includes not only the email addresses of the vendors who were part of the Amazon Review scam but also WhatsApp and Telegram phone numbers. In addition, PayPal account details and user names, along with links to about 75,000 Amazon accounts, are also found in it.
Any user who purchases a product from Amazon can give a review. It will not be easy for the shopping site to decide whether the customer has anything to do with the vendor. It is also a fact that needs consideration that it’s not easy to differentiate between real reviews and fake ones as both types of customers have bought the product. However, Amazon may change the way products are rated according to several criteria, which will soon be bringing out in the media.
Naira Shekhawat has been into Content Writing just after completing her Graduation in English Literature. Her love for words has won her many accolades in her respective jobs ever since. Naira covers business sections for VMR News. She is a traveller by heart and loves writing on food blogs as a freelancer.