The action marks Amazon’s first-ever joint lawsuit against fake review brokers.

Consumer reviews have become an essential part of the shopping experience, providing valuable insights that help customers make informed purchase decisions. For this reason, Amazon is committed to ensuring the trustworthiness of consumer reviews worldwide.

However, an illicit “fake review broker” industry has emerged, where fraudulent businesses facilitate fake reviews in an attempt to mislead consumers. These fake reviews undermine trust in the reviews experience, which harms customers and sellers alike. Amazon invests significant resources to proactively stop fake reviews. This includes using machine-learning models and expert investigators to ensure that every review in its store is authentic, and taking legal action against fake review brokers worldwide to stop fake reviews at the source.

Amazon is continuing its fight against fake reviews by filing a joint lawsuit with the Better Business Bureau (BBB)—and its mission is to be the leader in advancing marketplace trust—against an illegitimate business called ReviewServiceUSA.com. The owners and operators of the website attempted to sell fake positive reviews to bad actors for publication on Amazon product listing pages or BBB business profile pages. They used fake customer accounts to post inauthentic positive reviews to misleadingly inflate a product or business’s rating and ranking. The lawsuit was filed in the federal U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington under case number: 24-2-16106-6 SEA.

“Amazon is committed to ensuring reviews remain a trustworthy, insightful resource for consumers worldwide and we have zero tolerance for any attempts to mislead our customers through fake reviews,” said Claire O’Donnell, Amazon’s director of Selling Partner Trust & Store Integrity. “We’re grateful for the collaboration with the Better Business Bureau to hold these fake review brokers accountable for their deceitful actions. This lawsuit sends a clear message to bad actors that Amazon will use all available means to preserve the authenticity of product reviews.”

Both Amazon and the BBB have clear policies prohibiting fake reviews. Amazon invests significant resources to stop fake reviews, and proactively blocked more than 250 million suspected fake reviews from its store in 2023. This joint legal action seeks to shut down ReviewServiceUSA’s deceptive operations, preventing them from facilitating fake reviews targeting Amazon’s store, the BBB, and other legitimate companies and organizations.

Melanie McGovern, director of public relations and social media for International Association of Better Business Bureaus said, “The Better Business Bureau and Amazon have come together in a lawsuit to fight fake reviews. By combining our capabilities and sharing intelligence, we are better equipped to identify and act against the people behind these deceptive practices. The joint lawsuit will convey that fake reviews will not be tolerated. BBB remains committed to fostering trust and promoting integrity in the marketplace to protect consumers and honest businesses.”

These legal actions represent a continuation of Amazon’s efforts to protect its customers, selling partners, and store by holding bad actors accountable. Amazon is aggressively fighting fake reviews, and will continue collaborating and sharing information across industries to protect more consumers and shut down fraudulent review activity.