Fake reviews big issue on Naver, Coupang, Baemin

A person's left hand cradles a mobile phone while their right index finger touches its screen. / Korea Times file

By Kim Jae-heun

In today's online shopping marketplace user reviews hold a critical influence over the decisions other customers make.

As more people are shifting to online grocery shopping and food ordering platforms amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, good reviews have become more important than ever.

However, several marketing agencies here have taken this opportunity to offer review writing services for small business owners that promote their products on e-commerce platforms such as Naver, Coupang and Baedal Minjok (Baemin). The problem here is that the reviews are not based on actual experiences.

The prices for these fraudulent reviews differ depending on the platform. Marketing agencies charged the most for food delivery platforms such as Baemin and Yogiyo at 8,000 won per comment, and 5,000 won per comment for e-commerce platforms Naver, Coupang and WeMakePrice.

Businesses, aware that positive reviews help increase product sales and improve the dealer's online reputation, are turning to the marketing agencies to generate comments for them.

Small businesses including restaurant owners and retail dealers have expressed concern and surprise that reviews can now be purchased and worry this might disturb the market.

Last year, the local e-commerce market grew by nearly 20 percent to 135.26 trillion won compared to 113.31 trillion won in 2018.

As more people shop online these days, experts warn that flourishing fake reviews will only harm customers in the end.

“There are more and more bad participants taking advantage of this growing market and earning money here. If they continue to spoil the market, it will be customers who will face all the damages,” said Prof. Lee Eun-hee at the College of Social Science at Inha University.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said producing fake reviews is illegal but the fault will be laid on shopkeepers who have paid for them.

Marketing agencies will not be held liable and only small business owners will be slapped with a fine of up to 10 million won if caught.

“We have seen several cases where marketing agencies have hired part-time workers to leave fake comments for their clients. It is an illegal act for shopkeepers to attract people with fake reviews that they have paid for,” a KFTC official said.

Though, the official said such offenses are hard to police.

“If we secure evidence and launch an investigation, we can punish the persons concerned but that is all under the condition that we receive reports on them. Without that, we cannot investigate individual cases of our own volition,” the official added.

Also, the antitrust watchdog official added it is hard to distinguish between real and fake reviews.

Naver said it is preparing to come up with a response system set to tackle individual accounts producing fake reviews.

“We are taking this very seriously and we will suspend those accounts,” a Naver official said.