Brooklyn Yogurt Shop Sting Snares Fake Reviewers For NY Attorney General 168
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Reuters reports that nineteen companies caught writing fake reviews on websites such as Yelp, Google Local and CitySearch have been snared in a year-long sting operation by the New York Attorney General and will pay $350,000 in penalties. The Attorney General's office set up a fake yogurt shop in Brooklyn, New York, and sought help from firms that specialize in boosting online search results to combat negative reviews. Search optimization companies offered to post fake reviews of the yogurt shop, created online profiles, and paid as little as $1 per review to freelance writers in the Philippines, Bangladesh and Eastern Europe. To avoid detection the companies used 'advanced IP spoofing techniques' to hide their true identities. 'This investigation into large-scale, intentional deceit across the Internet tells us that we should approach online reviews with caution,' said Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. 'More than 100 million visitors come to Yelp each month, making it critical that Yelp protect the integrity of its content,' said Aaron Schur, Yelp's Senior Litigation Counsel."
..as little? (Score:5, Interesting)
that's huge money for such little work. especially in countries like bangladesh.
Re:wouldn't that be yelps problem? (Score:5, Interesting)
Probably around the time billions of sales dollars a year are highly influenced by online reviews, articles, etc. It's always been illegal to lie online if the lying falls under libel or slander laws, as well as fraud, false advertising, etc.
Re:..as little? (Score:5, Interesting)
Again, the perspective of $1 being tiny is from the American *spender*, which would be a business. Most businesses would likely consider it a marketing expense, so they could get 300 reviews for the same cost as printing brochures and it will likely have a much bigger impact than brochures.
Where's the Yogurt? (Score:4, Interesting)
If the former, one might imagine a hapless Brooklynite trying to find this awesome place they read about on Yelp and being sorely disappointed when the address ended up being, what? A PO box? And then wouldn't they then go onto Yelp and report the address as wrong?