British shoppers are being deceived into buying products online by unscrupulous sellers on Amazon using fake and paid-for reviews, an investigation has found, reports The Telegraph in 2018. The investigation by Which?, the consumer magazine, found Facebook groups with tens of thousands of members were being offered free or discounted products in exchange for positive reviews.

Further investigations by Which? were reported by The Guardian in April 2019 confirming a "flood of fake five-star reviews" is still a major problem for Amazon. As an example of the magnitude of the problem, "one set of headphones made by the brand Celebrat had 439 reviews. All were five-star, all unverified, and all arrived on the same day". In one particular product group, 87% of more than 12,000 reviews for the products were by unverified purchasers. “Our research suggests that Amazon is losing the battle against fake reviews, with shoppers bombarded by comments aimed at artificially boosting products from unknown brands,” said Natalie Hitchins, the head of home products at Which?.