Google NEEDS your help...

[ryan.leslie]

I've been waiting for this to raise its ugly head since last week's announcement! Today a good friend sent me this lovely example showing that review spamming is live and well in Google+, but it looks like YOU can help Google identify fake Google+ accounts created for the purpose of review boosting. I REALLY hope that Google will be attentive to the community at large when they report violations.

See anything fishy about these reviews?

https://plus.google.com/local/*/s/by:102465962893890048023

Let's see, 12 PERFECT reviews written in the last week from an account with no other activity, not even a headshot. The account reviewed 1 MB dealer, 1 Honda dealer, 1 Toyota dealer, 2 powersports dealers, 1 bodyshop, 4 hotels/resorts , 2 orthodontists and a vet covering the better part of Southern CA? Hmmm...

Want to help Google?

This is an experiment in crowdsourcing with altruism in mind. Wouldn't you like to be a part of the initial effort to rid Google+ of review spam and shut down the companies that are running these "reviews for revenues" scams on consumers while preying on business owners that don't likely understand the service they are purchasing?

PLEASE take 2 seconds and report this fake profile by clicking on this link to the fake account and then clicking the "Report this profile" link. You will need to be logged in to your + account. Here is a visual:


I'd also love to know how many reportings from different users it takes to have a fake account removed. Do you mind replying to this thread or pm'ing me if you reported the profile?

Thanks and I genuinely appreciate it.
Ryan

 

[kcar]

I get it looks fishy, but we have to stop and think.. Maybe that person shopped all 3 dealerships, rated them on how they treated him during the test drives, and bought a car at one (says buying at this one, Mercedes dealer).. Not worth ruining a bunch of people's businesses over something we can't completely verify.. Also while the profile is empty and not filled out, I have a personal out that's not filled out as well, but I still leave reviews.. And to finish, maybe the person just signed up and start adding a bunch of reviews for his favorite places.. ? This could be years of being a customer and now getting around to reviewing them online.

 

[Jason]

I get it looks fishy, but we have to stop and think.. Maybe that person shopped all 3 dealerships, rated them on how they treated him during the test drives, and bought a car at one (says buying at this one, Mercedes dealer).. Not worth ruining a bunch of people's businesses over something we can't completely verify.. Also while the profile is empty and not filled out, I have a personal out that's not filled out as well, but I still leave reviews.. And to finish, maybe the person just signed up and start adding a bunch of reviews for his favorite places.. ? This could be years of being a customer and now getting around to reviewing them online.

Or...Or...Or...it's fake. Look, I don't have any of that pesky evidence to "prove" that it's a fake profile but if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family Anatidae on our hands.

Maybe it's the way my mind works, but I can't imagine a scenario where a consumer says "Bless the saints, now I can leave reviews on Google Plus! I've been thinking about making a profile. This clinches it!".

Not saying it's impossible, but in my experience with the world this just isn't how normal people operate.

 

[ryan.leslie]

kcar,

I don't disagree with you that the scenario you suggested could happen in a single profile although I think it would be extremely rare, but that just isn't the case here I promise, I checked thoroughly before I posted. Here are two more examples as proof that this profile page and these others are used by a company that is posting reviews, they simply alternate which profile is posting on which accounts. You don't have to dig very far to see the patterns and somebody with time could draw a neat spider web of "degrees of separation" between these reviewers and the businesses they reviewed (A "circle" for suspected fake profiles works great). One more thing to consider, I haven't seen less than a perfect rating on any of the newly created profiles that lack any other content, that alone is a gigantic RED FLAG.


Couple examples:
This fake profile reviewed the Honda dealer and one of the powersports dealers in the same time frame as the other reviewer:
https://plus.google.com/109585872608874835537/posts

This Fake profile reviewed the property management company and the MB dealer in the same time frame:
https://plus.google.com/105621471443389851344/posts

I posted this story a few weeks ago in another thread, but here is the end result of employing a company like this courtesy of Channel 7 news in Denver. I can only imagine what they would do to a dealer if they were wrapped up with this kind of review boosting. Take the time to read the comments to the story too, very interesting consumer insights in there.

Back to the bigger point here though, I was REALLY hopeful that the move to + would curtail this, and I think it can, IF Google enforces the + TOU linked here. If a semi-novice user like me can see the pattern and confirm it with a circle, surely Google can stop this practice. That is why I'm so eager to see what will happen if a ton of active + users report a faked profile page. Will Google remove the content?

 

[ewalraven]

Ah, I wanted to play devils advocate and say it was real just for fun, but this is 100% fake.
- Created a week ago
- 10+ reviews in that time
- Two people in their circle
- Did a quick people search and found there aren't any Sunny Batz around Fresno

I'm sure there are REAL people out there in the Google+ world that meet this criteria as well, but if I would have to put my money where my mouth is - I would for sure vote on fakeness.