The 'fake review' market: When 5 stars can also be bought

The "fake review" market operates openly.

A month ago, Ms. Minh Hanh (Binh Trung ward, Ho Chi Minh City) bought a blender on a e-commerce platform The product has more than 1,000 5-star reviews, hundreds of comments praising "good product, fast delivery, carefully packaged".

“ I didn’t see anyone complaining, so I thought the product must be good. But when I received it, I plugged it in and it didn’t work, and the case was dented. I texted the shop but they kept quiet. I felt like I was being cheated ,” said Ms. Hanh.

Products that receive many positive reviews are often a factor that consumers consider when shopping online. (Illustration photo)

A Nielsen survey on concerns when shopping online shows that up to 84% of users are concerned about product quality.

Consumers also tend to refer to reviews to decide whether to buy a product or not. Therefore, to convince users to trust online shopping, sellers find ways to increase good reviews about the product.

But behind the numbers and virtual stars, consumers can fall victim to tricks, while small retailers struggle in fierce competition.

Mr. T, the owner of an online fashion store, admitted that he was once offered the service of "buying 5-star reviews".

“ For every 2,000 - 4,000 VND, I get a review with comments and pictures. If I spend 1 million, I can have hundreds of reviews in a few days, ” said Mr. T.

According to Mr. T., the algorithm on e-commerce platforms prioritizes displaying products with many positive reviews, helping new products easily reach the top of search results. “ If there are no stars, people won’t click on it. But if there are a few hundred 5-star reviews, the order rate will increase, ” Mr. T. shared.

In fact, not all products with fake reviews are of poor quality. Some shop owners said they bought reviews just to “gain a foothold” initially, when the newly launched product had no real orders or feedback from customers.

Currently, the service of selling fake reviews and buffing orders is no longer happening quietly but is being advertised openly on social networks and websites. The seller only needs to choose a service package, transfer money, and the rest will be done by the “buff review” team.

With just a few hundred thousand dong, products can quickly climb to the top of search results, turning fake reviews into a "ticket" to compete in the fierce race of e-commerce.

Virtual order prices and virtual reviews are posted publicly on many websites.

An advertising page for “Cheap Shopee fake sales and review buffing service” publicly posts the price: “ Choose 10-20 products with 40 5-star reviews: price 950,000 VND ”.

Another promotional page also claims “lifetime warranty, absolute safety”, with a detailed price list: "10 products, increase 600 sales, 60-80 reviews (photos, videos ) - 450,000 VND; 20 products, 2,800 sales, 300 reviews - 1,700,000 VND".

Industry insiders call this the “review rental market” – where every metric, from purchases to comments, can be “flagged” for money.

As e-commerce platforms tightened their checks and severely punished accounts that created fake reviews, many shop owners turned to hiring real people to place orders and write comments to bypass the system. Groups that accepted “hired orders” sprang up more and more. At that time, the buyers were real, the reviews were real, but the truth about the product was… uncertain.

Groups that accept fake orders operate openly.

23,000 violating accounts were handled on Shopee in September alone

Responding to VTC News Electronic Newspaper reporter, representative Shopee Vietnam said the platform only allows users who have completed real orders to leave reviews, and applies strict authentication mechanisms to ensure transparency.

“ Shopee combines order authentication and data analysis technology to detect unusual behaviors such as placing fake orders or posting reviews that do not reflect real experiences ,” a Shopee representative affirmed.

According to information provided by Shopee, in September 2025 alone, the platform detected and handled nearly 23,000 accounts violating the act of creating fake orders and reviews, including temporary or permanent suspension.

“ User trust is a key factor in the development of the e-commerce ecosystem. Therefore, we always take this issue seriously and take proactive measures to prevent it ,” a Shopee representative affirmed.

However, this person also admitted that the increasingly sophisticated appearance of external "single buffing, review buying" services is making control challenging, requiring close coordination between platforms, management agencies and consumers themselves.

Not only rampant on e-commerce platforms, the fake review market also operates openly on social networks.

A reporter for VTC News was invited by someone in the industry to join the group “Ai Community – Affiliate Marketing Online” on Zalo, where “free” courses on online sales are regularly opened in the evening, taught by someone who calls himself an “online business expert”.

During a trial lesson, reporters were given systematic instructions on how to "turn Facebook into a money-making machine", from manual techniques such as creating multiple fake accounts to leave positive comments to "modern" methods: using paid software combined with sample commands on ChatGPT to generate content and automate comments and reviews.

There is even software to create your own virtual reviews.

According to the instructions, participants only need to type the command according to the template into ChatGPT, copy the results into the automatic software - the system will generate a series of comments and reviews that look "real" for the sales posts. In the class, the software and the link to buy the fake review service are shared publicly, even with a promotion "discount if you buy now".

These real-life experiences show that social networks - where consumers often go to see feedback and ask questions - are being exploited to replicate the mechanism of trust manipulation, spreading from e-commerce platforms to sales fanpages and community groups.

According to Mr. Vo Do Thang, Director of Athena Cyber Security Center, "virtual assessments" are no longer manual but are mass-produced using automatic technology.

“ There are systems that use BOT and AI to generate hundreds of comments in just a few hours. These reviews look very natural, have spelling mistakes, have photos, have purchase times but are all fake, ” Mr. Thang said.

He said that major exchanges have filtering tools based on IP addresses and unusual posting behavior, but "fraudsters are constantly upgrading their tricks."

“ Without deep analysis of behavioral data, it is very difficult to detect. AI can generate content so diverse that it can bypass filters. This is a real technological race between counterfeiters and anti-counterfeiters ,” Mr. Thang commented.

Source: https://baolangson.vn/thi-truong-review-ao-khi-5-sao-cung-co-the-mua-duoc-5061834.html