Some firms buy Google ads to promote these “ratings” sites as a quick way to steer customers to pricey off-brand products and potential rip-offs.
How do I know? My dad fell for it—almost.
This Thanksgiving, my parents visited from North Carolina and—in what was surely a commentary on the state of my New York City apartment—my dad proposed buying me a new vacuum for Christmas. He suggested one called the V70 on Snapbuy.us, on sale for $260.
“It’s ranked the No. 1 vacuum,” he told me. He pointed me to the listing, which featured snazzy product shots and stellar reviews.
Fortunately, I’m an investigative reporter. I already knew that fake product reviews were a dime a dozen, but this seemed to go further. Now that anyone can use artificial intelligence to write convincing marketing and construct sharp-looking websites, the spin has become harder to spot.
Harder, yes, but not impossible. Using my dad’s shopping expedition as a case study, I created this list of how you can avoid falling for fake reviews and iffy products.
Trap No. 1: Sponsored content
I searched Google for “top cordless vacuum 2024.” Among the top sponsored links—technically ads—was one for product-reports.org, which my dad had also stumbled upon.
When you click on the three dots next to the link, Google shows that the sponsor was a company called Internet Up GmbH. (We’ll come back to them.)
Melanie McGovern, director of public relations at the International Association of Better Business Bureaus, says people should be wary of sponsored links—which often are the first few results in a web search. “Scroll down to the first organic search results,” she said, “because sometimes the ads may not be what you think they are.”
Nate Funkhouser, a Google spokesman, said all ads go through automated or human review before they are posted, and that ads with misleading product information violate its policies. Google determined this ad wasn’t in violation, he said.
Trap No. 2: Alleged experts
The product-reports.org link directs to an article by Oliver Harris, saying reviewers tested 87 vacuums to rank the best.
Only…Harris doesn’t seem to be real. His image—a mustachioed man in flannel—appears to be a stock photo, a Google Images search shows. Elsewhere on the web, this image endorses a Brazilian Pomeranian breeder. And on product-reports.org, the photo also represents “Ludwig Scott” on reviews for washing machines, grills and, mysteriously, cat food.
Emails to Harris and Product Reports couldn’t be delivered.
There are plenty of other red flags indicating the article is more ad than expert take:
• Promotional writing: Despite the alleged testing of dozens of models, the review is mostly devoted to the wonders of the V70.
• Poor grammar: Plentiful typos indicate the article wasn’t written by a professional. (“It’s absolutely the leading role of my today’s review.”)
• No contact information: The page lists a nonworking phone number. The published address is missing the city.
• Foreign footprint: Though that address is in Georgia, some of its reviews link to German websites and list prices in euros.
• Broken links: The links to social media and the “about us” pages, among others, are dead.
But like many of us would, my dad breezed through the ranking and clicked the product link.
Trap No. 3: The website
Snapbuy looks glitzy. The Vacuum V70 resembles a high-end Dyson, and the product page says it was featured on platforms including Fox News. “USA’s #1 Top Rated Vacuum Cleaner,” it reads, touting top-of-the-line features.
It looked so good that it almost got me.
But I’d never heard of Snapbuy. And I spotted fresh red flags:
• Media appearances: If something says “as seen on,” check it out. (Googling “vacuum V70″ site:foxnews.com yields no results.)
• The inventory: Other Snapbuy listings have the exact same look: unbranded electronics celebrated as “USA’s #1 Top Rated” and feted by the nation’s top news brands, bolstered by glowing testimonials from—you guessed it—Product Reports.
• Contact information: The only listed phone number? It’s in Germany. Off hours, a recording in German tells you to call back during business hours. Those fall between 3 a.m. to 9 a.m. EST. I called twice during that time, sat on hold and was eventually disconnected both times.
Here’s the kicker: Snapbuy’s terms of service says it’s a trademark of Internet Up, the same German company that paid for the Product Reports ad. (In recent weeks, Internet Up has run nearly two dozen Google ads in the U.S. linking to product-reports.org.)
I reached out to Snapbuy and Internet Up via their published email addresses. I also reached out to the companies via Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. I received a LinkedIn message from Internet Up’s managing director, Alan Szymanek, citing email difficulties. On the fifth day of my inquiries, Szymanek wrote to say that “it is not feasible for us to process such a comprehensive request within just a few days.” Another representative asked for an additional week to respond.
Trap No. 4: Five stars
Snapbuy’s page for the V70 touts a five-star rating from Trustpilot, a platform that allows customers to review businesses.
There are a few problems:
• Vague stars: The nearly perfect rating associated with this “hassle-free cleaning” product can’t be found on Trustpilot itself. Trustpilot runs reviews of companies, not products. On the actual ratings site, there was a Snapbuy.net with 4.4 stars, but no rating for Snapbuy.us.
• Suspicious reviews: Snapbuy.net has more than 8,000 reviews, mostly five-star. But many of those sound generic and overly praising. Some reviewers said they rated the company before receiving a product.
The one-star reviews—about 9% of the total—are more revealing. Some claimed Snapbuy didn’t respond to customer-service inquiries about returns. Others said they received low-quality products that retailed for less than what they paid. “Shame on Oliver Harris,” one wrote.
After I contacted Trustpilot, it removed Snapbuy’s stars. It affixed a warning that the reviews might not be trustworthy and that Snapbuy inaccurately used Trustpilot branding on its site.
Trustpilot’s chief trust officer, Anoop Joshi, says that consumers should beware of sites claiming stellar Trustpilot reviews that don’t link back to the platform.
So is the Vacuum V70 a decent product? We didn’t buy it, but found far cheaper look-alikes elsewhere: A search for “cordless vacuum cleaner” on Amazon turns up dozens of practically indistinguishable, vaguely branded products.
In the end, my dad sent me a vacuum from a known brand—with a price tag under $260. I hope my apartment will finally live up to his standards.