In the first case of its kind , the Federal Trade Commission tookactionagainst a diet birth control pill seller for both making false claim and paying to juice their standing on Amazon with fake positive reviews .
The fruit of genus Garcinia cambogia has been hail by some as a powerful weight loss supplement . Of course , there ’s no conclusive scientific grounds to support this — although there is someindicationthat in rarified cases it may lead to liver failure , which lead the FDA to issue anoticeabout a product containing the dynamic component — which is why most purveyor of junk diet oral contraceptive pill tend to make their efficaciousness claims vague . Cure Encapsulations , which the FTC ruled against yesterday , had no such modesty , or else stating that the extract in interrogation “ Literally BLOCKS FAT From Forming . ”
What differentiates this from every other false weight loss panacea fiasco is that Naftula Jacobowitz , the owner / operator of Cure Encapsulations , “ compensate a website , amazonverifiedreviews.com , to make and post Amazon review of their product , ” fit in to the FTC — demanding his merchandise retain an medium rating of 4.3 star . As the humankind ’s large ecommerce marketplace , Amazon has becomeground zerofor bowelless tactics in achieving greater merchandise visibleness — among which fake reviews are a well - worn method acting . According to one Pew Researchstudy , the absolute majority of Americans sometimes contain online reviews , though only around one-half believe they ’re trusty .
Unsurprisingly , Jacobowitz was previouslysuedby another Amazon seller in 2016 for , among other things submitting “ false negative feedback and/or other false complaints to Amazon.com , ” which the complainant take caused her to lose the in demand Amazon ‘ Buy Box , ’ a patch of blind real acres affiliate with higher sales event . ( The case was settle via permanent injunction in September of 2016 . )
Amazon itself has ask legal military action over the old age on multiple function against entities abuse its review organisation , but this shell marks the first time the FTC has involved itself in these matter . “ We receive the FTC ’s piece of work in this field . Amazon enthrone pregnant resource to protect the integrity of reviews in our store because we know customers value the insights and experience shared by fellow shoppers , ” an Amazon spokesperson order Gizmodo . “ Even one inauthentic critical review is one too many . ”
Recommended in the opinion , and pending sound judgement in New York ’s Eastern District Court , are a miscellany of stipulations against Jacobowitz ’s Cure Encapsulations . His society would be required to notify anterior customers of the call against it and identify the compensate reviews for Amazon . The society would also no longer be able to make “ system of weights - loss , appetence - quelling , blubber - blocking , or disease - treatment claims ” about product without “ reliable scientific evidence in the form of human clinical testing , ” and confront a mostly suspend fine of $ 12.8 million .
Updated with comment from Amazon
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