How to spot fake Amazon reviews

By TwelveTabs · Updated

No sign proves a review is fake, but several together are a warning. Use the seven checks below, which take about two minutes. Fakespot, the tool many people used, closed in 2025: see Fakespot alternatives.

Seven signs to check

  1. A burst of reviews in a few days. Sort by newest. Dozens of five-star reviews in one week, then quiet, is a flag.
  2. Praise with no detail. "Great product, love it, fast shipping" could be about anything. Real reviews mention what the buyer did with it.
  3. Reviews about a different product. Sellers sometimes merge a new listing with an old one, so the reviews belong to another item. Check that the reviews match the thing in the photos.
  4. Only fives and ones. A real product with thousands of reviews usually has some in the middle. Read the 3 star reviews first: they tend to be the most honest.
  5. The same phrases again and again. Search the reviews for a distinctive phrase. Copied wording across reviewers is a flag.
  6. Reviewers who only review one brand. Open a few reviewer profiles. A profile with ten five-star reviews of one seller's products is a flag.
  7. "Verified Purchase" taken as proof. It means the account bought the item on Amazon. It does not mean the review is honest, so treat it as one small point in favor.

What the law says

On August 14, 2024 the US Federal Trade Commission announced a final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials, which lets it seek civil penalties against violators. Source: FTC press release, read October 11, 2026. A rule does not stop every fake review, so keep checking.

Where TwelveTabs fits

TwelveTabs is a free AI shopping agent for Amazon. It reads the listings and reviews for you and names the best match. It ranks by how many sold recently, the star rating, the number of reviews and the price, then reads the reviews of the finalists. It does not label each review real or fake, so the checks above still apply to the product it names. See what TwelveTabs is.

Run a free search to get a shortlist, then spend your two minutes on the checks above.

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