In April, Amazon sued four sites for giving fake reviews of products on its website. In its suit, Amazon argued that the paid reviews system was undermining its review based system, which users on its website believed to be true. Amazon sought damages from the four sites besides asking them to cease publishing the reviews on its website. Amazon further accused the four websites of trademark infringement, and violations of local consumer protection statutes and cybersquatting laws that govern who can own a domain name according to BBC. The sites included buyazonreviews.com, buyamazonreviews.com, bayreviews.net and buyreviewsnow.com where for a fee of between $19-$22, products would get stellar reviews as well as a 4-5 star rating which translates to better sales.
Amazon is now taking it a notch higher by instituting legal action against 1,000 people it says have posted fake reviews on its website. In its suit filed in Washington, Amazon says its brand reputation is being damaged by “false, misleading and inauthentic” reviews paid for by sellers seeking to improve the appeal of their products according to BBC. The site says the 1,114 defendants offer false review services for $5 through Fiverr.com promising stellar reviews for users. The Online retailer says it conducted investigation by purchasing the false review services on Fivver. The fake review sellers then used multiple accounts from unique IP addresses to offer the reviews. Amazon is working with Fivver to resolve the issue, which is a violation of its review rules that warn against false or fake reviews.
Source: BBC
