LANSING, Mich. — Ever read Amazon reviews before you buy a product and wonder if they're real or fake? A new report reveals some of those reviews may have been paid for by the sellers themselves.
The report in PC Mag says in many cases, you can't trust the review.
It said an open database discovered on Amazon's servers recently shows 200,000 Amazon reviewers were allegedly paid for glowing reviews.
"What happened was they were sent a product, they were given instructions on how to review, make it believable, obviously make it positive," Chandra Steele, a spokeswoman for PC Mag, said.
She said third-party sellers would then reward the reviewers and let them keep the product for free and pay them for the review.
Amazon released a statement saying, "We have clear review policies and we ban and take legal action against those who violate these policies."
PC Mag said to look for verified purchaser reviews, read the best and worst reviews, and look for common complaints in the bad reviews.
