How to spot fake Amazon reviews

Updated: October 5, 2026 · 7 min read

Why reading the review isn't enough

The obvious tells, like broken English, all-caps praise or five stars with no detail, catch only the laziest fakes. The FTC's own consumer advice warns not to assume that "just by looking" you can tell a real review from a fake one.

Fake reviews are also built to look normal. The FTC notes that some fake positive reviews give less than the top rating to seem believable, and that fake reviews aren't always positive: companies sometimes post fake negative reviews to hurt a competitor. So instead of judging each review's tone, look at the patterns around it: when reviews arrived, who wrote them, and what they actually describe.

The checks, in order

As of October 2026, Amazon product pages show the star breakdown and the "Customers say" summary to everyone, but ask you to sign in before showing the reviews themselves, so sign in first.

No single check proves anything. A product can genuinely get a rush of reviews after going viral. What should make you stop is two or three of these lining up.

Check the reviewer, not just the review

The FTC suggests looking at whether a reviewer has written other reviews. If it looks like someone created an account just to review one product, the review may be fake.

On Amazon, reviewers have public profile pages that list their other reviews. Real shoppers tend to review a mix of unrelated things over months or years, with mixed ratings. Be wary of profiles where every review is five stars, every review is for the same brand or category, or all of them landed in the same few weeks.

Watch for reviews borrowed from another product

This is the trick most shoppers miss. Amazon lets sellers group closely related products as "variations", items that differ only in color, size, quantity or flavor. Variations share one product page, and that page shows the combined rating, review count and reviews of every variation, plus any "#1 Best Seller" or "Amazon's Choice" badge.

In 2023 the FTC brought its first case over what it calls review hijacking, against a supplement company that grouped new, different formulas with established products so they inherited thousands of reviews. The company paid 600,000 dollars to settle, and the FTC later sent refunds to affected buyers.

To check, read what the reviews actually describe. If they talk about an older version, a different formula or a product that doesn't match the listing, the star rating isn't telling you about the thing you're buying.

What Amazon's labels do and don't tell you

Verified Purchase means Amazon checked that the reviewer bought or used the item on Amazon and paid a price available to most Amazon shoppers. That rules out reviews from people who got the product free or heavily discounted through outside deals. It doesn't make a review honest: brokers have paid people to buy products normally and get reimbursed later.

Vine Customer Review of a free product marks reviews from Amazon's invitation-only Vine program. Reviewers get the item free, but Amazon says sellers aren't allowed to contact them and Amazon doesn't edit their reviews. They're disclosed, so they aren't fake reviews, but weigh them knowing the product was free.

The star rating isn't a simple average. Amazon calculates it with machine-learned models that consider how recent each review is and whether it's a Verified Purchase. Ratings without Verified Purchase status don't count toward the overall rating unless the customer adds text, a photo or a video.

The "Customers say" summary on the product page is AI-generated from the written reviews. If the reviews underneath it are manipulated, the summary will be too.

Red flags in your own package

The clearest sign a seller is buying reviews is when they try to buy yours. Amazon's Community Guidelines list these as violations to report:

• A card in the box offering a gift card or prize for a 5-star review.
• An offer of a refund or free replacement if you change or remove a negative review.
• Messages, including on social media, offering full reimbursement for buying and reviewing a product.
• Being asked to contact the seller outside Amazon before leaving a negative review.
• A QR code or link that requires a review to register your warranty.

If you've had one of these from a seller, treat that seller's glowing reviews with suspicion. Amazon prohibits customers from creating, editing or removing a review in exchange for payments, refunds, discounts, products, gift cards or warranties.

What about fake review checker tools?

Many older guides and Reddit threads recommend Fakespot, the best-known review analyzer. Mozilla shut it down on July 1, 2025, along with Firefox's Review Checker. Treat any recommendation of it as out of date. Whatever tool you use, the FTC's point stands: no checker can tell for sure, so use it as one signal next to the checks above.

The most reliable outside check is the one the FTC recommends first: look at a range of sources, including well-known sites with independent expert reviews, rather than relying on one product page.

How to report a fake review

Reporting helps the next shopper, and it's quick:

1. A review: find it on the product page, select Report below it, choose the reason and submit.
2. An offer of compensation: use Amazon's Report Review Compensation form. You can upload up to four images, such as a photo of the insert card.
3. The product or seller: on the product page, select Report an issue with this Product or Seller.
4. To the government: the FTC takes reports at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Include "fake review" in the comments.

Since October 21, 2024, the FTC's rule on consumer reviews has banned businesses from creating or selling fake reviews, including AI-generated reviews, and from buying reviews or offering incentives conditioned on a positive review. Courts can impose civil penalties for knowing violations.

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