Amazon is failing to tackle fake reviews says watchdog

AMAZON IS failing to stem a “flood” of suspicious and fake reviews on its marketplace that risk misleading millions of customers, according to a consumer group.

The watchdog Which? studied a selection of devices made and sold by relatively unknown Chinese brands, all of which had “exceptionally high” ratings on Amazon, and in some cases even the coveted “Amazon’s Choice” endorsement.

Eight products were tested independently and three performed so badly they were rated as “Don’t Buys” – low-scoring items Which? advises consumers to avoid.

Almost all of the products – headphones, vacuum cleaners, dash cams and Bluetooth speakers – fell short of the average Which? score for product performance in their respective categories.

A set of headphones sold under the Yineme brand showed signs of suspicious review activity, Which? said, including unusually high numbers of positive reviews, high review frequency, repetition of phrases and photos and videos often uploaded alongside reviews.

The headphones had a high overall rating of 4.4 out of five from more than 800 reviews and an “Amazon’s Choice” badge.

In contrast, Which? tests gave the product a “Don’t Buy” warning, with a score of just 37 per cent. The tests revealed the sound to be “exceptionally poor” with noise-cancelling rendered worthless by the poor quality.

Shortly after Which? reported these headphones to Amazon, the product was made “currently unavailable”. Amazon has also deleted customer reviews from this product.

An Amazon spokesman said: “Amazon is relentless in our efforts to protect the integrity of reviews.”

Attempts to manipulate reviews are “strictly prohibited”, he said, adding that the firm has spent £308m fighting against “reviews abuse” and fraud.