5 min 
Reviews are one of the fastest ways to build up an organisation’s reputation.
However, faking those reviews is nothing but a slow poison to the integrity of your business.
Thus, it is essential to understand the statistics and trends of fake reviews to prevent consumers from being misled and maintain your organisation’s positive and organic image.
Therefore, this article will cover some fake review statistics in detail.
So, stay tuned until the end!
Top Fake reviews statistics
- About 30% of online reviews are fake.
- Each extra star in ratings can increase a brand’s sales by 5-9%.
- Around 82% of people have read a fake online review in the past year.
- Approximately 74% of people report being unable to always distinguish between real and fake reviews.
- On Amazon, about 30% of reviews on top products are fake.
- Yelp blocks approximately 7.1% of reviews because they appear to be fake.
- Fake reviews cost U.S. businesses nearly $152 billion every year.
- Around 16-50% of reviews are manipulated.
Overview of fake online reviews
As the name suggests, fake reviews are fabricated information about products or services that appear online.
Their purpose can be either to boost a brand’s reputation or harm a rival by manipulating consumer perception.
They aim to convert potential consumers and gain a competitive edge in the market.
Many online reviews are found to be fake, posing significant challenges for consumers trying to distinguish genuine feedback from fake reviews and for businesses seeking to maintain trust and integrity.
Let’s have a look at some general fake reviews statistics:
1. About 30% of online reviews are fake.
Some surveys and studies have shown that up to 30% of online reviews may be fabricated. This percentage then differs according to the platform and industry.
The Federal Trade Commission cited approximately 700 businesses for fabricating reviews and issued a fine for fake endorsements.
2. About 94% of consumers have refrained from brands with negative reviews.
3. Around 16-50% of reviews are manipulated.
While 30% of online reviews are outright fake, a significantly higher percentage are manipulated to suit the brand’s needs.
4. That includes e-commerce sites censoring their negative feedback (34% according to online shoppers) and highlighting the positive reviews only.
Industry-specific impacts of fake reviews
Fake reviews compromise the integrity of the service industry, leading to consumer trust issues, unfair competition, and reduced business efficiency.
Addressing the impacts of fabricated reviews is crucial to maintaining a healthy business environment and enabling consumers to make informed choices.
For example, given below are some statistics on the impact of false reviews on service-based businesses:
5. Fake online reviews cost U.S. businesses nearly $152 billion annually.
6. False reviews and ratings, damaged company reputations, and, in turn, decreased 25% revenue.
They have to pay a hefty price for these fake reviews. That’s how common fake reviews are.
7. 54% of buyers won’t purchase a product if they think the consumer feedback is fake.
Fake positive feedback for hotels on sites like TripAdvisor can increase their favorability and online ranking.
8. These ratings sway 93% of travelers and make decisions based on them before booking.
9. For each additional star in the customer ratings, revenue for local industries increases by 5-9%.
Customer ratings are essential, and just a one-star increase can significantly increase the revenue of local businesses.
Platform-specific analysis of fake reviews
Highly fake online reviews pose numerous problems for major platforms like Amazon, Yelp, and Google.
They have implemented various strategies to deal with this problem.
Let’s have a more educated look into this:
10. Amazon has seen about a 43% fake review rate of the 33.5 million reviews on the bestselling products that were examined last year.
Amazon has been combating fake reviewer feedback for years.
According to a Fakespot Study, approximately 43% of Amazon reviews are unreliable and fabricated.
To manage this issue, Amazon has automated systems that detect suspicious activities and verify the authenticity of reviews.
11. Yelp’s automated systems block about 25% of online reviews submitted by buyers suspected of being fake.
Fake review statistics suggest that Yelp has a 7.1% rate of fake reviews.
They have automated systems that flag and filter any suspicious consumer reviews.
They must pass by advanced software that checks them for reliability and authenticity.
One of the major review platforms is Google, and it is often targeted by many consumers who write fake reviews.
12. Around 11% of Google reviews are fake.
Google has employed methods such as user reports on fraudulent reviews and automated systems to filter suspicious reviews.
Real cost of fake reviews and online reviews’ impact on customers and businesses
Research indicates that fake reviews have a significant impact on customers’ purchasing decisions, often leading to poor choices and potential financial losses due to fraud.
These fake reviews essentially deceive consumers, prompting them to make poor purchasing decisions.
This advertently harms the companies that are reviewed but do not engage in such activities, and other businesses profit from this unfair practice.
The impact of online reviews is significant, as they influence consumer decisions and business outcomes.
When there are no negative scores, this often raises suspicions of censorship or fake reviews.
Given below are some fake review statistics:
13. About 82% of consumers are said to have read a fake online review in the past year.
When fake reviews are detected on an e-commerce service’s online review platform, the service’s credibility is affected, and potential customers are deterred.
14. 44% of e-commerce sites face the issue of differentiating between a fake review and a verified customer review.
15. 62% of buyers have faced considerable quality differences between the product they received and what they ordered.
16. About 74% of consumers say that they can’t always tell if a review is genuine or fake.
Most consumers are less likely to engage with a business if they suspect the feedback on the site is fake or manipulated, resulting in a loss for both the business and the customer if the business’s website is genuine.
Combating fake reviews: Strategies and tools
It has been established so far just how common fake reviews are. Therefore, identifying these false reviews has become imperative, as more consumers rely on them to make purchasing decisions.
One such tool that has been introduced to the online review space is Fakespot.
While Fakespot is consumer-facing, business-side tools like WiserReview focus on helping brands collect verified reviews and avoid misuse.
It analyzes several reviews to determine their authenticity.
It monitors fake reviews by passing them through an extensive assessment, including language usage and reviewer profiles, and identifies suspicious ones with an accuracy rate of over 90%.
Government bodies such as the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have taken steps to combat deceptive practices.
They have urged platforms to implement stricter controls and new rules to efficiently detect and remove false reviews, promoting user-generated content on their websites.
Insights from a former federal criminal investigator highlight the importance of investigative techniques in uncovering coordinated fake review campaigns.
Wrap up
In brief, the rise of fake 5-star reviews is a significant issue that many businesses encounter in today’s digital economy.
With this knowledge, you, as a consumer, can begin to question reviews, while companies should promote transparency and new rules to combat fabricated customer opinions.
Sources:
WTHR | Cybernews | Sciencedirect | Findstack | Revinate | Search Engine Land | LinkedIn | Zeebiz | Starfish Reviews | Bazaarvoice | Prnewswire
Frequently asked questions
Studies estimate that around 30% of all online reviews may be fake or manipulated.
Fake reviews appear across major platforms like Google, Amazon, and TripAdvisor, though each has its own detection and removal policies.
They damage trust, mislead customers, and can reduce real sales or push honest businesses lower in rankings.
Look for vague language, repeated phrases, no purchase details, or a sudden surge of similar reviews.
Platforms use algorithms, human moderation, and stricter verification to detect and remove suspicious reviews.
Krunal
