Businesses apologise after consumer watchdog uncovers fake review operation: 'We regret our conduct'

Seeing apology notices from businesses on social media?

Several companies have issued public apologies on social media following an investigation which revealed that about 100 businesses had procured fake positive reviews to be posted on review platforms.

On Wednesday (Sept 30), the businesses acknowledged that fake reviews could mislead consumers and undermine their ability to make informed purchasing decisions.

"We regret our conduct and have taken corrective measures to remove the fake reviews and prevent such conduct from recurring," the businesses said.

Among them were Burma Social, Harmony Funeral Care, Picasso Hair Boutique and The Hamper Story, which acknowledged that procuring fake reviews was an unfair practice under the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act.

This comes after Singapore's consumer watchdog, the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCS), said it had uncovered a fake-review operation involving AI-generated reviews, paid Telegram reviewers and a dashboard that allowed businesses to manage their ratings.

In a media release on Sept 30, CCS said Julian Tung Yan Kai, the sole director of Reputifly — a digital marketing company — allegedly provided fake review services to about 100 businesses.

Action has since been taken against Tung and 45 businesses that admitted to purchasing fake reviews from him.

Among the apology notices posted by businesses on social media, Harmony Funeral Care said four non-genuine reviews still remained visible as at Sept 30, although all four had been reported to the relevant platforms for removal.

The company said it had also responded publicly to the reviews to indicate that they did not reflect genuine customer experiences.

It added that it no longer purchases or incentivises reviews, and now invites customers to provide honest feedback without requesting a particular rating.

xingying.koh@asiaone.com

在社交媒体上看到商家发布的道歉声明吗？

一项调查显示，约有 100 家企业购买虚假好评发布在评论平台上，调查结束后，多家公司在社交媒体上公开道歉。

周三（9 月 30 日），这些企业承认虚假评论可能会误导消费者，并削弱他们做出明智购买决定的能力。

“我们对自己的行为感到遗憾，并已采取纠正措施删除虚假评论，防止此类行为再次发生，”这些企业表示。

其中包括 Burma Social、Harmony Funeral Care、Picasso Hair Boutique 和 The Hamper Story，它们承认，根据《消费者保护（公平交易）法》，购买虚假评论是一种不公平的做法。

此前，新加坡消费者监管机构——新加坡竞争与消费者委员会（CCS）表示，他们发现了一起虚假评论行动，该行动涉及人工智能生成的评论、付费的 Telegram 评论员以及一个允许企业管理其评分的控制面板。

9月30日，CCS在一份媒体声明中表示，数字营销公司Reputifly的唯一董事Julian Tung Yan Kai涉嫌向约100家企业提供虚假评论服务。

此后，当局对董先生和45家承认从他那里购买虚假评论的企业采取了行动。

在企业于社交媒体上发布的道歉声明中，Harmony Funeral Care 表示，截至 9 月 30 日，仍有四条虚假评论可见，尽管他们已向相关平台举报要求删除这四条评论。

该公司表示，他们已公开回应这些评论，指出这些评论并不能反映真实的客户体验。

该公司还表示，不再购买或激励评论，现在邀请顾客提供真实的反馈，而不要求特定的评分。

邢莹.koh@asiaone.com