Fake Amazon Reviews Have Been A Problem For A Long Time. Now The FTC Is Finally Cracking Down.

by MR Magazine Staff Mar 01, 2019

The Federal Trade Commission brought its first successful case against an online company for buying fake Amazon reviews to sell a shoddy product. The agency filed its complaint on February 19, and reached a settlement that included a $12.8 million fine on the 26th. It’s the Platonic ideal of a modern scam: The defendant is a company called Cure Encapsulations, which is based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and owned by a man who alternately goes by Naftula Jacobowitz, Nat Jacobs, and Nate Jacobs. The product in question is a purported weight loss supplement and appetite suppressant made from the Indonesian fruit garcinia cambogia (the fruit looks like a tiny green pumpkin and is associated with liver failure). Read more at Vox.