Beware Five-Star Reviews: The Rise of Fake Online Scams
National Trading Standards has warned consumers that criminals are increasingly using paid individuals, bots, and AI to generate fake reviews at scale and to create fake review sites. This scam targets high-demand products such as air fryers and vacuum cleaners.
Although fake reviews were banned in the UK in April 2025, scammers continue their operations unabated. UK government research from 2023 estimated that between 11% and 15% of reviews across major platforms in categories like electronics, home/kitchen, and sports/outdoors were not genuine, with some studies suggesting the figure could be as high as 30%.
The scam has evolved from reviews written in sweatshops to AI-generated content that is difficult to distinguish from authentic feedback. These fake reviews typically lack concrete product details and instead rely on vague, generic language, often copying phrases from product descriptions.
Consumers should be alert to red flags such as an unusually high proportion of five-star reviews, many reviews posted simultaneously, and reviewer accounts that have been recently created or focused narrowly on specific product ranges.
Protection tips include ignoring five-star reviews to obtain a more balanced perspective, paying attention to four- to two-star opinions, verifying purchases, and using trusted review sites. Guardian’s The Filter is highlighted as a reliable source for independent, in-depth product reviews.
An example scenario illustrates the risk: a consumer might purchase a highly rated air fryer based on glowing five-star reviews only to receive a cheap or dangerous counterfeit product due to fake reviews.
