Amazon has deleted approximately 20,000 product reviews, written by seven of its top 10 UK reviewers, following a Financial Times investigation (Editor’s note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source) into suspicious activity. From a report: The FT found evidence the users were profiting from posting thousands of five-star ratings. Those who had their reviews deleted included Justin Fryer, the number one-ranked reviewer on Amazon.co.uk, who in August alone reviewed $19,000 worth of products, from smartphones to electric scooters to gym equipment, giving his five-star approval on average once every four hours. Overwhelmingly, those products were from little-known Chinese brands, who often offer to send reviewers products for free in return for positive posts. Mr Fryer then appears to have sold many of the goods on eBay, making nearly $26,500 since June.

When contacted by the FT, Mr Fryer denied posting paid-for reviews — before deleting his review history from his Amazon profile page. Mr Fryer said the eBay listings, which described products as “unused” and “unopened”, were for duplicates. At least two other top 10-ranked Amazon UK reviewers removed their history after Mr Fryer. Another prominent reviewer, outside the top 10, removed his name and reviews, and changed his profile picture to display the words “please go away”. The FT’s analysis suggested that nine of Amazon’s current UK top 10 providers of ratings were engaged in suspicious behaviour, with huge numbers of five-star reviews of exclusively Chinese products from unknown brands and manufacturers. Many of the same items were seen by the FT in groups and forums offering free products or money in exchange for reviews.

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Source:: Slashdot