Fake video testimonials: Inside the world of fake reviews (CBC Marketplace)

this is the market how to spot a

fake

I was fooled by that online review we all trust them I personally knew where people weigh 111 pounds but are they real? I am a certified financial advisor and I am a designer and a teacher one of Canada's best critics how come the business is not responsible for that? Why do you make so many

fake

reviews

? Aren't you fooling people? I don't even know who you're staying away from. Why don't you talk to us? It's your market we're heading to a stakeout north of Toronto just drive for a second take a look looking for a woman who doesn't want to be found there's that place right there but that my beach dresses a woman whose job is to fool people like you and like me this woman Hi, I'm Suzanne.

I'll create a credible testimonial

video

for you starting at just $10. She makes money by making fake

testimonials

for companies by pretending that she is a real customer. Just lend me your strength over 50. words to work with, she even poses as an expert to promote questionable dietary supplements. Hello, my name is Maria J. Clifford. I am a registered dietitian at the Kennedy Health Institute in Washington. Making false

testimonials

like this might be illegal, but it seems like she's made thousands of them and we'd like to talk to her about it. Our plan is to leave this package in her PO box and wait for her to pick it up.

It's a little deception designed to expose first. Hello, my name is Suzanne. Hello. I'm Tessa Daly from Tampa Florida Hi we're all Jennifer, we're not sure what her real name is but companies all over the

world

hire her to say good things about them and then post her

reviews

on their website so everyone knows about Rain City help, like this cleaning service in Seattle and this private detective in England I suspected for some time that my husband is having an affair now I heard about stellar intelligence through a friend of mine and asked them for help this no it's the only time we wanted to know more about this woman, in fact we once hired her ourselves Hi, I just wanted to make this quick

video

to tell everyone how much I loved eating at Cheesed Off.

We first researched online reviews two years ago and many of us rely on reviews to decide where to spend our money. We wanted to know how easy it is for a company to fool us with fake products, so we invented a fake food truck called Cheese Off with its own website, Facebook page and lots of fake photos, then we hired people. To tell them how much they liked our truck on review sites like Yelp, we showed them how easy it is to build a good reputation even for a fake business. I'm here to offer you a written review for your class or service, we found our reviewers.

On Fiverr calm, they offer inexpensive ways to boost your business, including hundreds of people who will make testimonials saying whatever they want about something that appears to have come from one of their real customers to give you an idea of ​​how big Amazon's problem is. The internet giant recently sued over a thousand people on Fiverr for selling fake reviews about its products and loves having them make it lunch. The woman we were investigating is called sampan. We chose her first because she is Canadian and one of the best sellers on Fiverr. She was happy to lie about our fake truck, fast, our friend and they make the best grilled cheese sandwich since that story first aired.

The problem of fake reviews persists and so does the woman named San-pan. As we go deeper, our trail leads us to this man. We're in Kamloops, British Columbia to meet George Gabriel Physics Mathematics Biology The usual science beeping He's a college student who feels misled by the testimonials and thinks Anpan has gone too far Honestly, I had a big lunch to begin with and then left. I got off that weight loss wagon and then looked for an easier way to get back on it. George heard about the dietary supplements raspberry ketone and green coffee bean extract and searched online and found many testimonials.

The testimonials are kind of saying that people got amazing results with these, they lost more weight than the product said. George spent a couple hundred dollars and a few weeks trying them out, but I didn't notice any difference. That fooled me and then I like to consider myself an educated consumer. We show you a testimonial of the same Sampan supplements. I personally see numerous people whose life weighs 11 pounds during their first week and I do it because I care about people. I do it because I care about people, I think that is definitely a lie, there is absolutely no way she is making all these videos dressing up in a lab coat and telling people that they need to buy products in a certain area just because he cares about people.

George is right. san-pan just pretending to be a professional hi my name is Maria J Clifford Gina Parker Jessica Moore I am a registered dietitian at the Kennedy Health Institute in Washington at the Herald Institute here in Washington I am also a mother of two children and I am also a mother of three children . I think everyone has to have some service and then they say no I'm not going to do that, it's wrong because there's a certain point at which it's acting and then there's a certain point at which it's misleading. people, I am a certified financial advisor, I am a designer and I am a teacher, we spent weeks online trying to locate Sampan, she is the tip of an iceberg of deception on the Internet despite having been discovered by us two years ago, so if I write in the only username I know, but for a woman who is all over the web, it is proving very difficult to find her using image searches and variations of her username, we found pieces of her past, an old profile, a website idle offering realistic review places where she admits Making thousands of videos, we found old photos of her pet and this one from her backyard, but still a needle in a haystack, eventually we even found this.

I play an investigative reporter named Heather White in the new movie, My Uncle John is a Zombie, it's a fundraising video for a new zombie movie here's a trailer Uncle John, don't worry, I won't let anyone get you hurt pandas man get a credit on the internet movie database like suzanne banks but none of this tells us exactly who she is or where to find her after all the public has a right to know when you agree , we do agree, so we return to Fiverr to ask fan pan to give us another testimonial, this time for a scarf.

Hello pan fan, I would like to purchase a video testimonial for MU. We are pretending to have our own business selling hand knitted accessories online once again, she happily agrees to make a video of us and wear our scarf without asking questions. Suzanne Pete this is how she wants us to address it with sand or Suzanne tells us to send her the scarf. to her post office box in Bolton Ontario and she folded it up nice and put it in the envelope, that's how we got to this parking lot waiting outside this post office. Hours passed and there was still no sign of sand pants, not until early the next day, when suddenly she appears sampan goes to her car with package improves this BBC and we want to talk to you about the testimony of you fell in the fiber oh I'm going Things are going to happen, I have nothing to say, I really don't want to.

Why do you make so many fake reviews? I do not even know who you are. Why do you make so many fake reviews? Aren't you fooling people? I do not even know who you are. Get away from the microphone. Why don't you do it? Talk to us What about the people who believe your reviews and trust you? Everything will be over in about 30 seconds. We think Vamp is a surprising comeback, so don't think what you're doing is wrong. Don't think about calling. Neill's and meet the man behind the big bell, but the reviews are written as if they arrived non-humans, this is your market, don't be fooled by your market, an SUV shoots out of a shopping center north of Toronto inside a woman who doesn't want to talk. to us with a package we sent hi I'm Jennifer for jobs lying to consumers while they decide where to send their money in the online fake testimonial business she's one of Canada's best sellers got you Travis kid none of us expected she come back, you might want to do it there are good photos as we approach the car, she rolls up the window but stays still, do it.

I would like to have a civil conversation with you about the testimonial to sell on Fiverr, let's back up so she doesn't feel like we just let her slide, we're with the CBC

marketplace

, CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, but can we get some answers from you? We just want to talk to you after several tense minutes. San-pan opens the door and pulls. pull out the scarf we sent her but it's still sampan she's prolific but not alone in the

world

of online counterfeiting Bell Canada was arrested in 2015 after it created a phone app and asked its own employees to write glowing reviews on it line, this is the guy who first noticed Bell's bad actions, have you seen anything on Facebook Life?

No god. Aten is an author and public speaker who knows a lot about what he calls authentic marketing. We catch up with him at a studio in Burlington, Ontario, where he records a weekly podcast. Hi Scott, how are you? you're good, what's going on? Bell, mmm, God bless you, he did it big and it all started with you, how did that happen? Then I woke up one day, opened the App Store and realized that the Bell mobile app was number two and I said, wait a second, there's someone, one thing I know for sure in life people don't like their phone company, that's how it works, it's a fact and the reviews were written as if they were written by non-humans.

I would write it like this and it didn't make sense it's here it works great makes it very easy now check my profile pay my bill nice clean design very easy to use have you ever said easy to use in your life it hasn't gotten much better than the new one ? search faster and easier to use try having a commercial hoping to include television and home phone services and future launches no that's not human that's not human God do some research and get on LinkedIn, the social networking site designed for businesses , you discover that many of the people who reviewed the Bell app are Bell employees, a Bell associate director, the performance manager, the marketing manager, an IT executive, a senior project manager.

God decides to write this blog about it. I wrote called "For Whom Bell Mobility Doubles" which by the way is the best headline they have ever written in my life the first comment on that post for someone was who cares and I said yes and you should do it if we compromise the ecosystem of trust in the Internet, what are we missing for words? It turns out that the Canadian Competition Bureau got worried and made him pay bail for a fine of 1.25 million dollars 1.25 million that's huge, not bad for a couple a couple of words you're a consumer hero no all heroes wear capes you know what they wear man so they wear man buns is the new Cape Scott, a big user of reviews, sometimes even a fake one, these are going to be how they get reviewed during the release of his book about sales, he decides to laugh by hiring some fake critics too from Fibers they write a script and then they buy you a room for five dollars and this is the best part: we tried to think of the best most ridiculous word they could say and we came up with diggity the new book I'm selling, the new customer experience is the diggity bomb diggity bomb the diggity bomb diggity bomb bombs digging for diggity bomb did his duty bold easy let's back up a little I want to show you someone that woman yes her name is Sam pan fiver yes we have also hired her for another story we did it on fake reviews in fact she is on the internet pretending.

Can we take a look at some of her videos? Of course, do it, I can't wait. See, Scott's reaction changes to amusement. The financial advisor. Are you now? She is a financial advisor. hello please Maria Jane Clippers on the line Inside Edition PC happy and healthy when he sees Sampan in his lab coat pushing a dietary supplement this is my problem okay even before this is ours we should all have a problem with him and None of this should be happening, people just think this is not under any rules, but they are not bound by them because they are not on television, it is not a commercial on television, so it is like the wild west. online, how is fiber not held responsible for that?

How is the business not held accountable for that and then people get scammed and that's what bothers me? She is aiming to be a dietitian for life. I think we've now reached that point where that line has gotten very angry, is there anything you would say to him? Please, stop. That's good because we're at the point of damage. We really are. If the fiber or tenn works. Because you wore a lab coat. Know?. Isreally like that? It's worth it that we are trying to ask the sampan the exact questions I want. I want to ask you a question.

We've seen you say you're a licensed dietitian, certified financial advisor, and insurance agent. None of that is true, although well, it certainly seems like it. like you and we just sent you a package like san-pan on fiverr and you picked up that package we can't tell you something we're not trying to catch you at all we want you to answer some questions that Maybe you've noticed that you've done this so you are telling us that you are not sampan or Suzanne, why does she deny that she is san-pan but defends the practice of so in testimony.

I want to hear this because it is important for you to have your voice every time the commercials disappear, commented: yes, making statements in sequence, can I tell you that what you are doing is unethical, possibly illegal, as if nothing I have done or anyone I know in that market doing anything wrong, okay, are they winning? money they are doing things and I have nothing to get that microphone you know I think what you are doing is wrong you don't think you are bearing false witness oh you will do it tomorrow please I'm not with you I'm out are you what you think I'm asking your opinion no , I have no comments.

I ask your opinion again. I want to know if you think, but you should know that giving false testimony online if that's not wrong, like taking your phone out of my car, which is the private property of anyone who tracks a large part of what the office does is a complaint: it is directs you to stop receiving safe reviews. This is your market. Get the market in your inbox once a week. Sign up for a newsletter at cbc.ca. slash Marketplace. The real offer in your market. She is one of the best sellers in Canada. but what Sam discovers are false testimonials used to deceive consumers.

I recommended it to many of my patients and it was great too. She says there's nothing wrong with her, but she's right. This is someone who should know Josephine Columbo from the Canada Competition. Office, we headed to Gatineau Quebec for answers, but that's something we've noticed. Columbo, the law enforcement agency's deputy commissioner, is looking into deceptive marketing practices. The office wants to ensure that truth in advertising applies in any forum in which those communications take place. They were the ones who broke bail for fake reviews. We've been doing some research on this woman. Her name is San Pan and I just want to show you a video in which she claims to be a licensed dietitian.

Find the four easy steps. To identify the actual residence shades below, please also note that I have no financial interest in raspberry ketones and I have no financial interest, although she is paid through fiber, so she should not be responsible, I'm not going to comment exactly. specifically about this particular individual, but what is the law? Let's see if the message provided is that of a genuine, unbiased and authentic reviewer. The rules say you can't intentionally mislead if you sell reviews. them as a company or allow them to be carried out so that all people who fall within that type of scheme could potentially be subject to civil or criminal proceedings if we proceed with the change.

We spoke to a lawyer who specializes in advertising, competition and he told us that law enforcement is behind here when it comes to misleading ads, what do you say? Well, you know. I disagree. I think the integrity of online reviews is important so we need to make sure the rules of engagement are followed and the office is fully committed to doing that the office says law enforcement depends on Canadians coming forward complaints. Can people complain about sampan? Absolutely, in fact, a large part of what the office does is based on complaints. I encourage consumers who feel they have been misled through misrepresentations to contact the office owners while the office awaits their complaints, we took our investigation to the fiber, we repeatedly requested an interview to discuss the enormous platform they provide for people like Sam, panic in guchi.

I'll be up soon. but Fiber will only give us a statement, we decided to have one of their salespeople read it to us with any testimonial based on a script delivered by an actor. It is up to the advertiser to be transparent with consumers and consistent with the laws governing disclosures around that payment. For content, Fiverr argues that its sellers are just actors saying their lines and it's up to buyers to tell the public that immediately after contacting Fiverr it also adds a bit of transparency to their website. Sellers in this category are actors, the testimonials they provide on their behalf.

They are paid promotional material and you should point this out to your client which is a disclaimer, maybe the way fibers recognize your site can be used to deceive, but will it change anything for consumers regarding san-pan, the latest time we see her she's driving down the highway and she gets it looks like she's now out of the testimonial business in a matter of hours per gig she disappears from the fiber I guess we'll never get that review for our start next week at the market let's go to go undercover investigating a multi-million dollar business that make natural dietary supplements work, we know that natural sizes are not affected, actually just post them in a bottle and they're safe, he's fine, we, my liver, same.

I had four to five days, she actually, at one point, concluded that stickers were forming on a candidate. I would do it. I like to see a band