New business, many 5-star reviews
You might have noticed many businesses these days boasting about their 5-star Google reviews. However, you might have also noticed that even more reputable businesses have fewer reviews than these new businesses. If you feel something is fishy, trust your gut and keep reading because what you will read will blow your mind.
Fake Google reviews???
In the summer of 2020, when I first moved to Toronto from Ottawa, I realized I needed a car to commute to various locations; otherwise, taking public transit would be a nightmare. What took 2.5 hours by bus would take 30 minutes or less by car. So, I started looking for used car dealerships on Google. One dealership stood out among all the others, with almost all 5-star reviews. Excited, I asked one of my friends to go with me to this dealership. I was happy to have found a perfect place to buy a car, but it was short-lived. We talked about a Toyota Corolla they had in their shop. It was good enough for a first car. But when he said the price tag was $16,800 for a 4-year-old car with 138,000KM on it, I was disappointed.
Then I asked him about the Google reviews they had and told him that was the reason I was there. When he heard this, he suddenly flustered and started stuttering. By then, I knew his business was not legit since a brand-new Corolla would sell for $18,800.
That story was my first exposure to fake Google reviews. The same concept applies everywhere. Online dishonesty is growing rapidly, and customers need to protect themselves against all sorts of scams.
In the section below, you can see a real review for a PC that had lots of 5-star reviews on it.
Last words…
Although reviews are meant to guide customers to a successful purchase, in recent years, scammers have enabled questionable businesses to gain 5-star reviews in return for money. This is customer abuse, and the customer will lose their hard-earned money over misinformation.
