Fake reviews have always come with the package for e-commerce websites like Amazon, which is obviously the kind of thing that these websites would prefer not to have, which is why Amazon has been suing fake reviewers left and right in recent months. The company just recently filed a lawsuit in Seattle against 1,114 fake reviewers, which sell their services for dirt cheap on a website called Fiverr, although it’s not clear why Amazon isn’t going after Fiverr directly.
Amazon continues its streak against suing fake reviewers on its site with a fresh lawsuit filed in Seattle, the BBC reports. The 1,114 defendants, collectively labeled “John Does” as the identities of the accused are not known, sell their services for as little as $5 on Fiverr, the micro-services website. “While small in number, these reviews can significantly undermine the trust that consumers and the vast majority of sellers and manufacturers place in Amazon, which in turn tarnishes Amazon’s brand,” the technology giant said in its complaint, which was filed on Friday. Interestingly, Amazon has not gone after Fiverr itself, who would have been an easier target for Amazon as it clearly has allowed sellers to offer illegal or fraudulent services on its site, in contravention of its own terms of service. The company routinely removes what it believes to be fake reviews, but a statement from the company says it fails to tackle the “root cause” or provide a strong enough deterrent against “bad actors engaged in creating and purchasing fraudulent product reviews.”
