Yelp might have to reconsider its classic slogan, “Real People. Real Reviews.”
Sure, the people might be real, but apparently one-fifth of all the reviews are big, fat phonies.
The number of fake reviews on Yelp rose to 20% in 2013 from only 5% in 2006, according to a new report out of Harvard Business School.
The study, which we found on Market Watch, comes hot on the heels of The New York Attorney General’s bust of 19 companies that specialize in publishing fraudulent online reviews, a process called “astroturfing.”
