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Big problem at a site you probably shop at

Everyone and their brother shops at Amazon.com. It is, after all, the biggest Internet-based retailer in the U.S., offering everything from books and apparel to food and jewelry.

It turns out that Amazon is now cracking down on people who are posting phony reviews to the site.

The latest case involves users of Fiverr.com, an online marketplace where you can take on such "gigs" as writing a news story for $10.

Amazon discovered that people were offering to write positive reviews of products they'd never even used, often with text provided by the seller. Sometimes they'd go so far as to receive empty envelopes in the mail to create the illusion that they were receiving shipments of these products.

Amazon is suing 1,000 people, but the most bizarre part of the story is that the internet giant doesn't even know their true identities. It has only user names to go by, and the fact these people employed multiple accounts and IP addresses makes it even more difficult to pinpoint who they are.

At this time, Fiverr hasn't said whether it would help Amazon uncover the users' identities.

To be honest, I'm surprised stories like this don't make the headlines more often. It's obvious that Amazon, Yelp, and other product review websites are rife with phony reviews. Don't believe me? Get this: My last employer had me go on Yelp.com and write fake reviews to drum up business!

All it takes is a good writer and an innocuous hyperlink dropped somewhere in the review to boost sales. And that we did -- the company was able to generate at least a couple of transactions each month from Yelp.

I think such behavior is unethical, and I felt bad for doing it. It tarnishes the company's brand and undermines the faith consumers put in the website to provide unbiased reviews that ultimately inform their purchase decisions.

Such misconduct is rampant on these websites. Far too often, I find glowing reviews that seem a little fishy, and the fact they include a link to the seller's website makes them all the more suspect.

So the next time you're using Amazon for product reviews, tread carefully. If the assessment seems overly positive with little substance to back up claims, it's probably fake.

I've noticed that negative reviews tend to seem more honest (not to mention they often have no hyperlinks). And it makes sense: a company wouldn't pay someone to post a negative review -- unless it's to disparage the competition.

I find that the best reviews are well-balanced -- they give you the good and the bad directly and, most important, impartially.

Have you spotted what seem like phony reviews on any site?  Would you continue to consult such reviews after finding out that many circulating in the site are fabricated?
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