The Verified Purchase badge lets you know the person writing the review bought the product. However, some groups will refund purchases to enable reviewers to get this badge and leave a fake review. Sellers can also buy “Helpful” votes for fake reviews to boost their visibility. In research for this article, we found review swap schemes, where sellers agree to review each other’s products favorably.

Part of the problem for Amazon is the sheer volume of goods and reviews. As a shopper, your only option is to flag suspected fake reviews for investigation by tapping the Report Abuse link under each review.

Another part of Amazon's strategy is the Vine Program. Amazon handpicks people it identifies as its “most insightful reviewers” and makes them eligible to request free products from thousands of brands in return for honest reviews. Vine reviewers are encouraged to provide unbiased opinions, even if they are negative, so the sellers who participate must be confident in their products. Reviews are clearly labeled as part of the program and tend to be more in-depth, often with photos.

While many Vine reviewers are honest, and the Vine badge may signal higher trustworthiness than a regular review, the program has come in for some criticism. Vine reviewers get products for free, but they are not supposed to be paid or sell or give away those products (though it's unclear how, or even if, this is policed). Participating vendors must also pay Amazon an enrollment fee for each product. Unscrupulous sellers may still try to circumvent the program by offering extra incentives for positive reviews.

Fraud-detecting artificial intelligence is a relatively new weapon in Amazon's fight against fake reviews. Amazon recently told the BBC that its AI can investigate suspicious reviews by digging into the reviewer's history, sign-ins, and relationships with other online accounts, including any connected to sellers of the products under review. But AI is a double-edged sword. 

As artificial intelligence has muscled into the public consciousness this year with the arrival of easily accessible AI chatbots, it was inevitable that someone would use them to generate fake reviews. An AI chatbot may not be able to buy or try a product, but it can help a human reviewer create more convincing copy.

You may not want to conduct an in-depth investigation every time you need to buy a new potato masher or power strip. That’s understandable, and thankfully there are tools that can help you spot fake reviews.

1. Fakespot offers a Chrome extension or mobile app that analyzes review legitimacy and seller history to weed out fake reviews.
2. Review Meta allows you to paste a URL to get analysis and an adjusted score that filters out untrustworthy reviews.
3. The Review Index tries to identify fake reviews and flag them, but it also offers useful review summaries categorized by specific elements of each product.

We can’t verify the accuracy of these tools, and the ratings and analysis they provide still require some interpretation. Amazon insists its fake review problem is not as bad as these tools suggest. Just be aware that any system designed to spot fake reviews will produce false positives. That said, they can help you analyze unfamiliar brands and products.

You can find more useful advice in our guide on how to shop safely on Amazon. If you do end up buying something that fails to live up to expectations, please leave an honest review to warn those who come after.

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