14 DAY TRIAL // The names of over 200,000 people participating in Amazon fraudulent product review schemes have been exposed due to an open database.
There is an ongoing battle between the e-commerce giant and shady vendors all over the world who want to hamstring rivals and gain an advantage by creating fake product feedback.
This can include providing free products in exchange for positive, public feedback or paying customers to leave positive reviews.
The strategy and how they stay under Amazon's radar differ, but an open ElasticSearch server reveals how some unethical activities are carried out.
The cybersecurity team of SafetyDetectives revealed on Thursday that the server held 7GB of data and over 13 million records that seemed to be connected to a widespread fake review scam. The same server accessed is open to the public and accessible online.
Server's ownership is not known but there are leads that its location may be from China due to Chinese messages that were leaked during the incident.
Usernames, email addresses, PayPal addresses, links to Amazon accounts,along with WhatsApp and Telegram numbers were some of the records in the database. The data also included records of direct messages between consumers willing to provide false reviews and traders willing to reward them.
More than 200,000 bad actors engaged in unethical activities on Amazon platform
According to researchers, the leak may contain "more than 200,000 people in unethical activities."
The database, as well as the messages included, exposed the strategies used by shady sellers. One strategy involves sending a link to the goods or products for which they want 5-star ratings to a customer, who then makes the purchase.
After a few days, the customer leaves a positive review and sends a message to the seller, which results in payment via PayPal. The payment can be classified as a refund, although the item is kept for free.
It is difficult to spot fraudulent, paid reviews because refund payments are independent of Amazon's platform.
According to Amazon's community and review policy, sellers are not allowed to review their own goods or receive a "cash incentive, discount, free products, or other compensation" in exchange for positive reviews,
However, since Amazon is such a popular online marketplace, it is likely that some vendors will continue to try to take advantage of review systems to increase their profits.