CHARLOTTE, N.C. — When it comes to shopping online or considering a purchase, most people check out customer reviews, and companies know that. In order to have a positive reputation online, some businesses post fake reviews.
Not only are fake reviews all over the internet, but sometimes, it's the same exact review posted for different companies.
A Google search using, “We are so happy with our new shingles,” written by “Lynda Jones," resulted in several pages of different companies with identical reviews, including several roofing companies in Charlotte and an automotive dealership in Australia.
Deceptive reviews are getting out of control. This particular review was part of a widget template by Duda, a website builder.
A Duda company spokesperson emailed the following statement to WCNC Charlotte after we contacted them about fake reviews:
“As the premier website builder for digital marketing agencies and web professionals, Duda services more than 20,000 agencies with more than one million sites built. Duda offers dozens of templates for users to choose from to help automate the website creation process. While Duda has a number of security measures that scans sites for phishing, fraud, or violent content, Duda does not monitor for duplicate content.
Duda offers suggested text in several website templates and examples of what that text might be, including reviews, as noted by our template that features a roofing company as an example. It is placeholder text that's used to show Duda customers how content can be formatted on a site. This is a common practice for website builders.
It appears that users have taken Duda’s templates and either forgot or chose not to update them on their end. If users have not realized they are using template content or are unsure of how to change page content, they are always welcome to reach out to Duda’s support team.
It’s important that creators are authentic and use their own unique content when creating websites. We encourage clients to create with their own voice in order to provide their users with the best customer experience. When a client uses the Duda platform, they are agreeing to create content that they own. Duda does not endorse publishing fake reviews and offers these services with the understanding that placeholder text will not be used in lieu of original content.”
When WCNC Charlotte called one of the Charlotte roofing companies and told the owner of our discovery, the owner referred WCNC to its IT person. On the other side of a call to the IT person was a woman.
“Thank you for pointing that out because I use another widget that actually pulled reviews into the website," she said.
There was then a big gap of silence before the voice replied again.
"You say I have a fake review on my website?" she said. "Could you read it?"
After another pause, the voice said again, “Thank you for pointing out because I use also another widget that actually pulled reviews into the website.”
Evidently, it was a recording, which suggested they get so many complaints about fake reviews, they actually created the recording, pretending to explain the situation.
The owner of the roofing company claimed this was all news to him before referring WCNC Charlotte back to the IT person. The recording was gone this time, but no one picked up the phone either.
Revisiting the roofer’s website, the identical reviews by “Lynda Jones” and others were taken down and updated with their own content.
In the meantime, the Federal Trade Commission announced an initiative in October of 2022 related to deceptive practices. A spokesperson for the FTC sent WCNC Charlotte a statement explaining the crackdown.
“This initiative is the first step of a process aimed at exploring whether rules are needed to combat fake and deceptive reviews and therefore it was not targeted at this point at any specific company.”
The agency put hundreds of companies on notice in 2021, warning them they could face fines for deceptive endorsements.
Data released in 2022 by Bespoke Software Development listed top categories on Amazon with fake reviews, with clothing in the top spot, followed by books, large appliances, and health and personal care products.
The Better Business Bureau issued the following tips for spotting fake reviews, including:
- Look for generic reviewer profiles
- Read reviews with verified purchases
- Review the quality of reviews, not just one or two generic words to describe
- Check grammar and spelling
- Too few or too many reviews
Contact Jane Monreal at jmonreal@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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