Don't get scammed by fake reviews

UK shoppers are increasingly turning to online reviews to help them make shopping decisions, trusting information from reviewers more than retailers, magazines, or even friends and family.

But as shady sellers and scammers are catching on to the power of customer reviews, they’re finding creative ways to use fake or paid-for reviews as a marketing tool.

Fake online reviews research conducted by the UK government found that out of all reviews on e-commerce platforms for three common product categories (home and kitchen, consumer electronics, sports and outdoors) between 11-15% of reviews are fake.

The Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCC Act), which passed into law last year, added extra protections to consumer regulation to combat fake reviews along with other unfair selling practices such as hidden fees, greenwashing, and unclear subscription contracts.

This new piece of legislation bans the practice of submitting fake reviews, commissioning them, giving people incentive to create fake reviews and more.

As of April 2025, these new rules, along with some of the others outlined in the Act, became enforceable, with a penalty of being fined up to 10% of a business’s annual turnover if they’re found guilty of unfair commercial practices.

Tips to spot fake reviews

Before you trust someone’s review you first need to determine if the person is trustworthy – or if they’re even a real person. You’ll find a lot of fake reviews on online marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy or review platforms like Trustpilot and Google Reviews.

When you’re browsing on these websites, here are a few signs to look out for that a business could be buying fake reviews:

Repetitive comments

Fake reviews can often be repetitive and unoriginal, saying the same things for lack of anything worth saying. When scrolling through reviews, keep an eye out for repeating phrases and buzzwords.

The user hasn't left any other reviews

On some online platforms you can simply click on a reviewer's username and see their review history.

A strong sign that a user might not be a real person is if they've not left any reviews aside from the one you've stumbled upon, or if they are only leaving reviews for one business.

The listing has only five-star reviews

You might have grounds to be suspicious if you see a product or business that has a lot more five-star reviews than any other ratings.

Fake reviews tend to be glowingly positive – five stars all around – so online listings with lots of five-star ratings but not much else could be a sign that they’re receiving more fake reviews than real ones.

Even if the reception is overall positive, it’s common to see a good sprinkling of four-, three-, or two-star reviews.

Their purchase isn't 'verified'

Some online platforms will indicate in the reviews whether the person has bought the item they’re reviewing.

On Amazon or Trustpilot, for example, you’ll see the words ‘verified’ or ‘verified purchase' somewhere on the review, which means this person is a verified customer.

While this isn’t a guarantee that the review is real – there are ways for shady businesses to fake verified reviews – it’s one way to weed out reviews from people that definitely aren’t real customers, which are more likely to be fake.

The reviewer encourages you to buy

These kinds of reviews are most commonly found on social media and streaming services – where content creators partner with businesses to promote them.

If you come across a review that seems to be encouraging you to buy, providing links to the seller’s website, or sharing discount codes, they might not be wholly genuine.

UK law requires content creators to be clear when they’ve been paid to post content and label advertising content. However, not everyone online is so willing to play by the rules, and on platforms that receive millions of uploads of content every day, illegal content like this can slip through the cracks.

That’s why you need to be cautious about who you trust and take a second to think about the validity of a review before you rush to buy.

What to do if you’re a victim of a fake review scam

If you find reviews you believe might be fake, the first thing you can do is report them to the platform where you found the fake reviews.

This isn’t always a clear process, but you can ‘report’ individual reviews that you spot as fake or report the account.

If you feel that you’ve been scammed or mis-sold to by a UK business you can also report them to your local Trading Standards office.

If you’ve been misled by fake reviews into making a bad purchase, there are some ways you can get your money back. If you paid using a credit card or Paypal, your purchase is protected under Section 75 of the Consumer Act.

If your purchase arrives broken or faulty, if it’s not as described, or if it doesn’t arrive at all, under Section 75 of the Consumer Act you can claim back the cost of purchases between £100 and £30,000.

You can read more about this protection in our guide to Section 75 and compare credit cards with us to find the best deal for your needs.

Kara Gammell
Personal Finance & Insurance Expert

Be sensible with a credit card

A credit card is a great way to build your credit score and protect your purchases should anything go wrong. However, it’s never advisable to make large purchases with a credit card that you may not otherwise be able to afford.

Missing credit card payments can impact your credit score, so use your credit sensibly. Make your payments on time, keep an eye on your credit limit, and check your monthly statements to stay on top of your spending.

If you purchased something under £100 or if you used a debit card, you may be able to get your money back via ‘chargeback’.

If your requests for a refund or complaints to the seller aren’t going anywhere, you can make a chargeback claim to your card provider and they may be able to reverse the payment.

This isn’t a guaranteed method, and there are requirements that must be met to make a claim, but it’s worth the effort if you feel that the seller is in breach of contract.