, data showed that phony testimonies cost customers an extra $0.12 cents for each dollar spent – meaning you could spend up to an extra 12 percent because of fake reviews. But fake online reviews don’t always have an immediate financial impact, some small businesses are seeing their reputations damaged from a barrage of untrue testimonials.Nicole Burnett owns Burnett Real Estate Co. At Keller Williams, a real estate agency in Gig Harbor, Washington.
Burnett said she and her team couldn’t understand why these reviews were coming in bursts – sometimes separated by just a few hours. She said her first thought was a competitor, but as the reviews continued, the posts seemed more coordinated. Up to that point, Burnett’s business had a five-star rating on Google, but once the one-star ratings started, her company’s rating began to drop.
“The fraud extends across every profession you can imagine,” she said. “I’ve seen surgeons, psychiatrists, weddings, DJ’s, lactation consultants, piano teachers, and you name it.” Dean’s findings connected to Isabella included a review for a California nursing home, a home warranty location in Brooklyn, NY, and an e-commerce store in Qatar.
InvestigateTV reached out to Google to ask about Isabella’s profile and its multiple reviews. Google would not do an interview, but a company spokesperson had the following statement: “We invest significantly in building technologies and instituting practices that help people find reliable information on Google.