How to Spot Fake Reviews and Deal with It

90% of your consumers evaluate your product or service by looking at reviews. That tells you how important your reviews are, right? This is a critical touchpoint where your consumers spend a lot of time deciding whether or not to purchase your product. It’s obvious that you can’t take it lightly.

But what if all the reviews you’ve earned turn out to be fake?

From a business standpoint, it’s painful.

• It hurts your reputation.
• It stops potential customers from purchasing your product.
• It makes them hesitate and step back without even giving you a chance.

Fake reviews have become more common than ever. When people notice your brand gaining traction or entering the spotlight, they try to hurt your brand reputation by going against you.

The problem isn’t just with those posting fake google reviews—it’s also businesses that try to boost their reputation by gaining more 5-star positive reviews.

As a consumer, you’re being misled from both sides. These fake Google reviews manipulate perceptions, misguide buyers, and create unfair competition.

But the real victims here are the buyers—people who have done nothing wrong except considering giving your product a chance.

It’s unfair. But with a few smart strategies, you can learn to identify fake reviews and handle them effectively. Doing so is crucial for maintaining authenticity and building trust.

What Are the Dangers of Fake Google Reviews?

Before we get into strategies, let’s first understand the hazards that bogus google reviews can create for your business. These reviews are more than just a few words on the internet—their impact can have serious consequences.

What could this mean for your business? Let’s take a closer look.

Erosion of Trust

Not all Google reviews are fake, but spotting the fraudulent ones is crucial for maintaining your brand's credibility. The authenticity of online platforms is completely tarnished, which might lead consumers to lose trust in the online review ecosystem. The problem is that many good businesses, who genuinely deserve to be on the spotlight and rely on honest reviews, end up being pulled down. 

Heard of Amazon Resellers and their love for fake reviews? 

We’re not claiming that all Amazon resellers are part of the fake review ecosystem. There are a few genuine ones who operate ethically from all angles. But many resellers heavily boost their product rankings through bogus reviews. They go to the extent of hiring people just to write positive fake reviews, incentivizing customers to leave positive feedback, and even using fake accounts to post reviews. That’s how unfair it can get. Unfortunately, that’s the world we live in.

💡 Pro Tip: If you want to understand your customers’ loyalty to your brand, you can use SurveySparrow’s Customer Loyalty Questionnaire. It helps gauge customer loyalty and implement data-driven strategies to improve customer satisfaction.

Financial Loss 

As we discussed, customers—the real victims—are misled from both sides: fake reviewers and businesses that encourage the fake review ecosystem. As a result, they end up trusting low-quality products and making large purchases, believing they will get the value they paid for. These unethical businesses don’t care about customer sentiment; their only goal is to deceive and profit.

On the other hand, some businesses willingly participate in this system, paying fake review service providers huge sums to earn positive reviews and boost their ratings.

The real revenue loss, however, is for genuine businesses that truly aim to solve a problem with their products or services. They are forced to compete against unethical rivals whose only goal is to make easy money by deceiving people.

Legal Repercussions

Does this ever end? Why isn’t anyone intervening?

You’re right—but there are regulatory bodies that can tackle this problem. These include:

• Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
• Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)

These organizations have strict guidelines. If they catch a business engaging in unethical practices—whether for positive or negative fake reviews—they can impose heavy fines, cause reputational damage, or even shut down the business for violating ethical standards.

So, the next time you come across a business unethically earning fake reviews on review platforms, remember that you can report them to these regulatory bodies and let them take the necessary action against such businesses.

Reputational Damage 

As much as we want to write about this topic, we truly feel for businesses that have done nothing wrong yet suffer from fake negative reviews. These businesses face unfair damage to their business reputation, and we understand their struggle.

If you’ve been affected or feel like a victim of this, know that this blog is for you. We understand how a drop in ratings can turn potential customers away, and we recognize that the long-term impact can be hard to reverse.

You’re not alone. We’re here to help.

How to Spot Fake Google Reviews

Fake Google reviews aren’t easy to spot. Detecting them often feels like finding a needle in a haystack. But here’s the thing—it’s not impossible.

Fake reviewers are smart enough to make their reviews look real. But with a few simple strategies, you can identify fake google reviews and remove them before they damage your business reputation

Here are some actionable tips to help you spot them: 

Look for Extreme Language

If a review sounds overly exaggerated—either extremely negative or positive—without much detail or context about the product or service, there’s a high chance it’s fake. Watch out for phrases like “Worst product ever!” “Amazing Product of the year!” or “10/10, highly recommended!” If you come across such reviews, take a step back and do your own research before making a decision. 

If you suspect that some Google reviews are fake, look for patterns like repeated wording or sudden rating spikes. 

Check for Reviewer Profiles

Reviewer profiles can give you insight into whether a user is genuine or fake. Some reviews are easy to identify at a glance, while others require a closer look for subtle hints. Don’t worry—we’ve listed some common signs of a fake reviewer profile below:

• No proper display picture
• Incomplete names or unusual names with random letters
• Poorly written reviews that don’t match your target audience
• Incomplete profile information
• The reviewer has posted very few reviews, often just yours

If you notice any of these signs, there’s a good chance the review is fake.

Spot Generic or Repetitive Comments

When spotting fake google reviews, one of the most important things to watch out for is generic or repetitive comments. If you look closely, fake reviewers often use the same set of words in almost every review.

With the rise of AI, some fake reviewers now use AI-generated reviews. You can easily identify them using free AI detector tools. AI-generated reviews are even easier to spot because they often sound robotic and unnatural. If a review looks too perfectly written, there’s a high chance it was generated by AI.

Analyze the Timeline

There’s a strange pattern you might notice with incoming reviews. If a business experiences a sudden spike in reviews within a short period, it could be a coordinated effort by fake reviewers to boost ratings through bogus google reviews.

Remember, some companies profit from this bogus review ecosystem. In some cases, businesses even partner with these companies, paying them on a per-review basis.

We had the opportunity to speak with a company that had tried this in the past and now regrets it. Through them, we learned how these fake review companies operate and what their mechanism looks like.

Here are some quick insights:

• These companies maintain a database of contact details for college students and freelancers. Their database is vast, with nearly 10,000 members already onboarded into the ecosystem.
• For each new project, depending on the number of reviews required, these companies charge their clients accordingly and coordinate the fake google reviews.
• These companies pay anywhere between $3 to $5 per review, and in some cases, even $10. Imagine someone posting five reviews per day, earning $25—enough for a cold coffee and a quick snack, right?

That’s how these companies operate. And when these fake reviewers coordinate and post in bulk, you’ll notice a sudden spike in the number of reviews.

Review Distribution

Have you noticed a sudden streak of 5-star or 1-star reviews? This could indicate that fake reviewers are at play.

A natural review pattern typically includes a mix of ratings—some 3-star or 4-star reviews along with the extremes. But if you see an unusual trend where only 1-star or 5-star ratings are being posted without much variation, it’s a sign of possible manipulation.

It’s always a good idea to analyze the rating distribution carefully before trusting the reviews.

How to Remove Fake Reviews

Remember, it’s not your fault. These fake reviewers are deliberately trying to bring down businesses. While you can’t control their actions, you can fight back and get those fake reviews flagged or removed.

If you believe your business is being targeted by fake reviews, here are a few key steps to help you navigate this situation successfully.

Flag the Review

Removing fake Google reviews isn’t easy, but flagging them and providing evidence can help speed up the process. Fortunately, Google provides a way to do this..

By now, you know what fake reviews look and sound like, so identifying them should be fairly easy. But what should you do after spotting them? You certainly can’t just let them stay. Follow these steps to flag and report a fake review: 

For Android: 

• Log in to Google My Business
• Find the fake review
• Click on the three dots next to the review
• Select “Flag as inappropriate”

For iOS 

To flag a review on the Apple App Store, follow the below steps

• Log into App Store Connect
• Navigate to the app you want to report a review for
• Go to "Activity" then "Ratings & Reviews"
• Find the review you want to flag
• Click "Report a Concern" at the bottom of it

That’s all you can do at this stage. Once you submit your request, Google will review the report and take the necessary action. 

Respond Professionally

One of the most important career skills you can develop is responding professionally with empathy and attention to detail, rather than reacting emotionally. This applies not just to reviews but also to workplace chats and professional emails—your responses should always be well-researched and thoughtful, not rushed or lacking context.

When dealing with bogus google reviews, staying professional is key. Since Google takes time to review and remove flagged reviews, use that time to respond carefully. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Acknowledge the comment – You can mention that you don’t recall their experience with your business, but keep the response neutral and professional.
• Encourage direct contact – Politely ask them to reach out to your support team or share an email where they can discuss their concern. This shows other readers that you take feedback seriously and are open to resolving issues.

Even though fake reviews can be frustrating, handling them professionally helps maintain your brand’s reputation.

Gather Evidence

If you need help removing fake Google reviews, make sure to document proof and report them through Google My Business. 

As we discussed earlier, gathering enough evidence on the user's experience is important to speed up the process. Conducting thorough research to find the relevant screenshots, purchase records like transaction details, or platform data about the user can be useful when flagging a review. 

Your goal is not just to prove to Google that the reviewer is not a real user but also to assure the general public who are reviewing and evaluating your app.

Google will definitely take action by removing the review if all the evidence matches. But if the review is not removed, you can also write to Google My Business Support with all the supporting documents. Things should go positive for you. 

Remember that when your response to the fake review is handled professionally, people don’t mind giving you a chance. 

If fake reviews continue to harm your business reputation, consult legal experts to explore options for defamation lawsuits or other legal recourse.

How SurveySparrow Can Help

Fake reviews are a widespread issue. It takes a lot of effort for a business to protect its brand reputation. But here’s the thing—you don’t have to tackle them alone.

SurveySparrow offers solutions to help you manage fake reviews effectively while keeping your business reputation intact.

Sentiment Analysis

SurveySparrow can help you identify fake or bogus reviews using AI-driven sentiment analysis. It also helps you analyze customer sentiment trends, making it easier to spot inconsistencies in reviews. This module includes advanced analytics and reporting tools to help you distinguish real reviews from fake ones.

Brand Reputation Management

Managing reviews across multiple locations is already challenging, and dealing with fake ones makes it even harder. SurveySparrow’s reputation management software simplifies the process, allowing you to take action against fake and negative reviews more efficiently.

Automated Yet Personalized Responses for All Your Reviews

Fake reviews are just another form of criticism, but you can turn them into opportunities by crafting personalized AI-generated responses. Your replies shouldn’t sound robotic or boring—they should spark curiosity and strengthen your brand presence.

Rich Analytics Module

Don’t waste time letting fake reviews harm your brand reputation. As soon as bogus reviews appear, let us take control and guide you on when and how to act. Our analytics dashboard is designed for exactly this purpose. We provide real insights and clear action steps—so you can handle the situation with confidence.

Wrapping up!! 

Dealing with fake reviews can be extremely frustrating, but with the right approach and strategies, you can protect your business reputation. You can minimise the business impact by proactively identifying and responding to these bogus reviews. 

Tools like SurveySparrow’s Reputation Management are built exactly for these needs where it can help you streamline the whole process, and manage your reviews effectively. 

Let’s put every effort into being transparent and let real reviews define your brand. 

Book a Free Demo!