Fake reviews

[mpatric]

Back in the day when users didn't need to purchase an app to review it, the App Store was awash with fake reviews. Some of the best selling apps were the worst offenders (not going to name them, they know who they are). Once Apple closed this loophole, this tailed off as it was more difficult to setup shill accounts as you actually needed to buy mutiple copies of your app with real payment information (credit card, etc) per account. But when Apple decided to provide developers with promo codes all that changed. Once again, it's dead easy to setup shill accounts using promo codes and create dozens of fake reviews. A developer by the name of Samir has created himself several dozen shill accounts and has used them to review all his sub-standard applications. From what I have seen, all of his applications are uniformly poor. I downloaded iOthello, which is one of his games and has been in the top 100 board games on the US store for 2 weeks or more now. It is easily the worst Reversi game on the App Store, yet it's the best selling thanks to his fake reviews. Furthermore, I suspect his reversi app doesn't even have any real strategy programmed into it as the moves it made appeared to be random (generally bad moves).

I'm sure most developers give themselves a a nice juicy 5 star review using their own iTunes account. However, setting up dozens of shill accounts is something quite different. Tricking unsuspecting users into buying rubbish in this way is not only immoral, but is illegal in many countries (shilling is illegal in the UK). This behaviour is disgusting. Apple should permanently ban him and other developers that do this.

[Danieljohn]

Originally Posted by mpatric

Back in the day when users didn't need to purchase an app to review it, the App Store was awash with fake reviews. Some of the best selling apps were the worst offenders (not going to name them, they know who they are). Once Apple closed this loophole, this tailed off as it was more difficult to setup shill accounts as you actually needed to buy mutiple copies of your app with real payment information (credit card, etc) per account. But when Apple decided to provide developers with promo codes all that changed. Once again, it's dead easy to setup shill accounts using promo codes and create dozens of fake reviews. A developer by the name of Samir has created himself several dozen shill accounts and has used them to review all his sub-standard applications. From what I have seen, all of his applications are uniformly poor. I downloaded iOthello, which is one of his games and has been in the top 100 board games on the US store for 2 weeks or more now. It is easily the worst Reversi game on the App Store, yet it's the best selling thanks to his fake reviews. Furthermore, I suspect his reversi app doesn't even have any real strategy programmed into it as the moves it made appeared to be random (generally bad moves).

I'm sure most developers give themselves a a nice juicy 5 star review using their own iTunes account. However, setting up dozens of shill accounts is something quite different. Tricking unsuspecting users into buying rubbish in this way is not only immoral, but is illegal in many countries (shilling is illegal in the UK). This behaviour is disgusting. Apple should permanently ban him and other developers that do this.

I whole-heartedly agree. I typically read all the reviews that are on an app, and after the first 3-4, I generally take it seriously, usually the first 3-4 are just the developer wanking himself off, so I ignore that.

Unfortunately Apple has no time to deal with this

[mpatric]

Originally Posted by Danieljohn

I whole-heartedly agree. I typically read all the reviews that are on an app, and after the first 3-4, I generally take it seriously, usually the first 3-4 are just the developer wanking himself off, so I ignore that.

Unfortunately Apple has no time to deal with this

3 - 4 reviews.. ok. How about 27 reviews? That is how many Samir has faked for iOthello. If you look across all his apps, he has in my estimation faked as many as 200 reviews, plus several more ratings (just stars without review text). This is clear and blatant shilling, which is fraud.

Apple NEEDS to deal with this or the store will become a joke.

[Danieljohn]

Originally Posted by mpatric

3 - 4 reviews.. ok. How about 27 reviews? That is how many Samir has faked for iOthello. If you look across all his apps, he has in my estimation faked as many as 200 reviews, plus several more ratings (just stars without review text). This is clear and blatant shilling, which is fraud.

Apple NEEDS to deal with this or the store will become a joke.

How do you know for sure that they are faked reviews? Same grammar? Same user-names accross multiple apps? Just curious.

[mpatric]

Originally Posted by Danieljohn

How do you know for sure that they are faked reviews? Same grammar? Same user-names accross multiple apps? Just curious.

Many reasons:

All the 19+ 'reviewers' have reviewed all of his 9 apps, giving 5 stars each time.

If you look at the reviews across the apps, phrases are repeated.

I downloaded iOthello - it's terrible - nobody would give this 5 stars. The other apps look just as bad.

One of the reviews stated it was 'the best reversi game around' - only it was a review for one of his other apps.. I think he typed in so many he confused himself.

Not content with fooling the masses with iOthello, he released it as 'Reversi Extended' too, which is exactly the same game, just with a different name and icon.

I could go on..

[Danieljohn]

Originally Posted by mpatric

Many reasons:

All the 19+ 'reviewers' have reviewed all of his 9 apps, giving 5 stars each time.

If you look at the reviews across the apps, phrases are repeated.

I downloaded iOthello - it's terrible - nobody would give this 5 stars. The other apps look just as bad.

One of the reviews stated it was 'the best reversi game around' - only it was a review for one of his other apps.. I think he typed in so many he confused himself.

Not content with fooling the masses with iOthello, he released it as 'Reversi Extended' too, which is exactly the same game, just with a different name and icon.

I could go on..

Yikes, that's pretty brutal. Sounds like it's crappy enough to where he will lose money, so I would expect that to happen. I think that there is a large majority of users that avoid reviews and just go off of their gut feeling from pictures. The reason I think that, is because I always see an app that looks like it could be good, and remarkably it has 400+ 1-star ratings. Which means that there were tons of people who saw the bad rating and still purchased the app.

But anyways, yeah that sucks, I don't think there's any way to report that.

[davek]

Originally Posted by mpatric

From what I have seen, all of his applications are uniformly poor. I downloaded iOthello, which is one of his games and has been in the top 100 board games on the US store for 2 weeks or more now. It is easily the worst Reversi game on the App Store, yet it's the best selling thanks to his fake reviews. Furthermore, I suspect his reversi app doesn't even have any real strategy programmed into it as the moves it made appeared to be random (generally bad moves).

This is an evil suggestion. IIRC Othello is trademarked..... fill in the blanks.

[vivianaranha]

Sorry for all the reviews that misled people. But they were not added by me.

I had downloaded a bunch of promo codes from iTunes Connect for my applications and sent them out to my friends asking them to download the application and give a review. and so all the reviews are good.

Sorry for the inconvenience caused - I have removed all my applications off right now.

I dont know what other developers do - but I dont have enough time to go make email accounts and then get an itunes account buy applications and review them.

It was a big mistake to give out free promo codes - Its been a lesson to me - No more free applications for anyone - All the Applications have been removed from the store.

[mpatric]

Originally Posted by vivianaranha

Sorry for all the reviews that misled people. But they were not added by me.

I had downloaded a bunch of promo codes from iTunes Connect for my applications and sent them out to my friends asking them to download the application and give a review. and so all the reviews are good.

Sorry for the inconvenience caused - I have removed all my applications off right now.

I dont know what other developers do - but I dont have enough time to go make email accounts and then get an itunes account buy applications and review them.

It was a big mistake to give out free promo codes - Its been a lesson to me - No more free applications for anyone - All the Applications have been removed from the store.

Vivian, thanks for replying. The fact is though that you have been making money off 'falsified' information. Do you know what wire fraud is? Look it up. I doubt Apple would take action against this, but you never know. You're certainly not the only one doing it. Big studios are even more culpable of this sort of thing.

[daveruske]

Apple does provide a "Report a Concern" link next to each review in the App Store. I don't know how effective the mechanism is, but it seems like a good first step towards pointing out suspected fraudulent reviews. Certainly Apple is more likely to notice it that way than to notice posts made here, although this is probably as good a place as any to raise awareness of such reviews so that more people do use the "Report a Concern" link.

[vivianaranha]

I dotn think i spend any tiem behind those applications.... I am not a OBJ C programmer - I just picked phonegap from phonegap.com and did those applications in a matter of 20-30 mins.

just check it out... probably u can also make some money of it...

[mpatric]

Originally Posted by vivianaranha

I dotn think i spend any tiem behind those applications.... I am not a OBJ C programmer - I just picked phonegap from phonegap.com and did those applications in a matter of 20-30 mins.

just check it out... probably u can also make some money of it...

I have made money, but not a great deal. The difference is I AM an Objective C developer and spent a LOT of time developing my iPhone apps (3 - 5 months each). Much blood, sweat and tears went into them.

[vivianaranha]

And thats the reason you hate me so much and started this thread... I guess i would do the same.... JEALOUSY.... Bravo

[mpatric]

Originally Posted by vivianaranha

And thats the reason you hate me so much and started this thread... I guess i would do the same.... JEALOUSY.... Bravo

Jealousy? Hardly. I don't hate you. I started this thread because this sort of behaviour is immoral (as well as illegal I might add) and wanted to discuss it with some of the esteemed members of this forum. Like many other serious developers I don't like the way that some people are abusing the app store and praying on users that believe anything they read.

[johnqh]

Originally Posted by mpatric

Vivian, thanks for replying. The fact is though that you have been making money off 'falsified' information. Do you know what wire fraud is? Look it up. I doubt Apple would take action against this, but you never know. You're certainly not the only one doing it. Big studios are even more culpable of this sort of thing.

Putting in fake reviews or having friends review your app is nothing ethical, but "wire fraud"?

Stop throwing big words around. I was with you until your last two posts.

Fake reviews are common problems with App store. Actually, it is a common problem with the whole web-based commerce. It is nothing new, and it is not limited to small time developers. There have been scandals with big companies too.

On the other hand, it is a problem regardless whether your opponent is a real obj-C developer or not, so leave that out in your arguments please.

I am 100% sure that every iPhone developer (including me, and YOU) have put in a good review for his own app.

But you have seen nothing yet.

The real evil ones are the ones who gave competitors fake negative reviews. Those are obvious to spot too.

Unfortunately, both positive and negative are part of life on App Store. Stop being so dramatic.

[vivianaranha]

I just started making apps in Objective C and I found out its more fun...

Here is a link where you can study - Its a great material

Stanford on iTunes U

I have removed all my apps from appstore.... Thanks for the support - i hope from next time I will get some good reviews from my customers adn not friends

[mpatric]

Originally Posted by johnqh

Putting in fake reviews or having friends review your app is nothing ethical, but "wire fraud"?

Stop throwing big words around. I was with you until your last two posts.

Fake reviews are common problems with App store. Actually, it is a common problem with the whole web-based commerce. It is nothing new, and it is not limited to small time developers. There have been scandals with big companies too.

On the other hand, it is a problem regardless whether your opponent is a real obj-C developer or not, so leave that out in your arguments please.

Ok fair enough, whether someone can write Objective C code or not has no part in the argument.

Given the amounts involved, wire fraud would be a stretch. Although in the strictest sense, it could be construed as such.

European commercial practice laws contain a clause about "falsely representing oneself as a consumer", which is what is going on here. But again, given the amounts involved no one is really going to put in the effort to do anything about something like this. But what about an app that turns over tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars? Where is the line drawn? I know it's a huge issue on amazon, ebay, etc. I was hoping (somewhat naively probably) that the app store wouldn't fall prey to this,

The BBC recently had an article about this.

[vivianaranha]

I totally agree with mpatric..... Such immoral behavior should be not be left to go on loose. i am glad he raised his voice and soem gentleman emailed me about this and i took down my applications.

Its a bug in the society when something is done in small scale no one cares much about it. now how many downloads did i get around 300-400 max. if I had got a million downloads - this app would not have been here in the appstore at the first place.

So I say we sud raise voices against these fraud behaviour and not let anyoen take advantage of it.

[johnqh]

Originally Posted by mpatric

Ok fair enough, whether someone can write Objective C code or not has no part in the argument.

Given the amounts involved, wire fraud would be a stretch. Although in the strictest sense, it could be construed as such.

European commercial practice laws contain a clause about "falsely representing oneself as a consumer", which is what is going on here. But again, given the amounts involved no one is really going to put in the effort to do anything about something like this. But what about an app that turns over tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars? Where is the line drawn? I know it's a huge issue on amazon, ebay, etc. I was hoping (somewhat naively probably) that the app store wouldn't fall prey to this,

The BBC recently had an article about this.

When you are calm, we are getting somewhere.

All laws are local. I am not in Europe so I don't know about the law there. However, all reviews are local too. If he posted the fake review in the US store, it is in theory isolated from the European store.

However, it is a hard argument to tell people not to send promo code to friends and families. However giving out codes online (including this forum). The whole point of promo codes is to get favorable reviews. Don't pretend it any other way.

Apple has the database which can easily block promo code receivers from writing the reviews, but do you really want them to do that?

Again, you ignored the hard truth, and the ugliest part - competitors posting negative reviews. They don't mind spending the $1 or whatever price to smear your app.

They paid to get your app, so all your legal arguments don't apply, yet, that's way more annoying than self-promoted positive reviews.

Sorry to say, that has been discussed to death, in this forum and in Apple's Dev forum. Unfortunately, there is no resolution. We just have to live with it.

[wuf810]

Originally Posted by vivianaranha

Sorry for all the reviews that misled people. But they were not added by me.

I had downloaded a bunch of promo codes from iTunes Connect for my applications and sent them out to my friends asking them to download the application and give a review. and so all the reviews are good.

Sorry for the inconvenience caused - I have removed all my applications off right now.

I dont know what other developers do - but I dont have enough time to go make email accounts and then get an itunes account buy applications and review them.

It was a big mistake to give out free promo codes - Its been a lesson to me - No more free applications for anyone - All the Applications have been removed from the store.

I'm amazed. I've given out promo codes before and didn't receive one review as a result. In fact I have problems even getting my friends to leave reviews. You must have some very helpful and very alike friends

[davek]

Originally Posted by johnqh

I am 100% sure that every iPhone developer (including me, and YOU) have put in a good review for his own app.

I'll take that as a bet if you like, you would lose. There are some of us who haven't added a review for their own apps as we see it as too unethical.

[davek]

Originally Posted by johnqh

However, it is a hard argument to tell people not to send promo code to friends and families. However giving out codes online (including this forum). The whole point of promo codes is to get favorable reviews. Don't pretend it any other way.

Giving out promo codes isn't to get favourable reviews, it is to provide a copy of your app so people can review it, or maybe you want to give free copies to friends/family. Giving the codes out for reviewers you may want a favourable one, but it isn't the purpose. The purpose is obtaining a review from a magazine, website so people will know about your app and what it is like, or of course just using promo codes to spread awareness by giving codes away on forums etc.

[Lars]

Apple has provided the easiest way to deal with the problem, if a program stinks you probably delete it right away, and now with the popup that says "Please rate this application" ~ guess what, 1 star. Likewise, they have given good apps a way to stay on top. Let's say everyone loved your app and didn't delete it, so they were never given choice for an easy rate. Great, then with the next update, all those users count towards your new ranking when they upgrade their application. So you climb the charts faster and higher than before.

I don't think the system is perfect by any means, but being upset about a crappy program doing better than yours is a waste of time. Just keep working hard, because those months of hard work will pay off. Or maybe not. The gold rush is on, but it is limited to a few. And in the end, some great programs will never get noticed but I really doubt people will be retiring off of crap programs.

One last thought, how many horrible games did you buy for the xbox, play station, Nintendo, etc. And you probably spent 40-60 bucks on those games. Just because someone marketed a game as good, doesn't mean you'll like it. That's true for movies, books, restaurants, lawn mowers, toilets, shoes, cars (big time true there), homes and on and on. One might even argue that the iPhone falls into that ... oh wait, all they hype for iPhone is true.

[ftm]

Upgrades do not count toward rankings. Only new purchases count toward rankings.

[drifter7508]

This is the worst case i've seen on app store so far regarding
fake reviews (its like 80+ faked reviews!):

iTunes Store

Hmm, the lite version obv. sucks big time regarding reading the reviews but
the payed version is top notch? And tons of the reviewers has
put 5 stars on most apps from this dev.

Check out the other apps too by the dev who obv. fakes lots of
reviews for them: orientmaple.com