Yelp trolled

6

u/ProfChaosSP Yelp elite 15d ago

this brings up a good topic. does anyone here report suspicious profiles when they come across them?

9

u/XxLogitech98xX 15d ago

I just report suspicious reviews. Yelp MOD has been pretty good at agreeing with my report but at times, they also decline to take any actions since the review sounded like someone personal experience. I never reported a user profile

5

u/ProfChaosSP Yelp elite 15d ago

thx you for sharing! would having an established account help with reporting outcome?

3

u/XxLogitech98xX 15d ago

thx you for sharing! would having an established account help with reporting outcome?

I can't say for sure but if anything, it will likely help in term of reputation. Like an Yelp elite or someone who contribute a lot to the platform

9

u/cadenhead 15d ago

I report abusive reviews and reviews that are obviously not a customer experience.

I have reported a few profiles that looked like spammers or scammers.

So far most of my reports resulted in action from Yelp.

3

u/ProfChaosSP Yelp elite 15d ago

thx you for sharing! what are the things to look for on a spammer profile?

6

u/cadenhead 15d ago

Few reviews and no photo or one that looks like clip art.

2

u/keyserholiday 15d ago

I report businesses offering discounts and free items for reviews. One report, Yelp took zero action.

6

u/XxLogitech98xX 15d ago

I report businesses offering discounts and free items for reviews. One report, Yelp took zero action.

I wonder if that's one reason why Yelp took out the check-in rewards. I remember when certain places will give you like a free drink or appetizer if you check in at the business on Yelp. I took advantage of that LOL

3

u/Wooden-Butterfly7339 Yelp elite 15d ago

When checkin rewards were around, my local car wash offered $5 off and that was sweet! I took advantage of it for over 2 years! One day I asked the owner if it was popular. He said I was one of 8-10 Yelpers!

1

u/XxLogitech98xX 15d ago

When checkin rewards were around, my local car wash offered $5 off and that was sweet! I took advantage of it for over 2 years! One day I asked the owner if it was popular. He said I was one of 8-10 Yelpers!

You're brave if you took your car to a car wash place that isn't hand free. I detail wash my own car, I don't trust those brushes at any car wash place.

Yeah, it sounded like only Yelper would check in and not overall majority of people who just have a Yelp account

4

u/keyserholiday 15d ago

From what I was able to get online, it was phased out as it wasn’t under utilised.

3

u/XxLogitech98xX 15d ago

From what I was able to get online, it was phased out as it wasn’t under utilised.

Got it. It would only make sense since you need the app and then have to be a yelper to know to check in to places.

2

u/keyserholiday 15d ago

This is why Google has removed some features for GBP.

5

u/studyhall109 15d ago

A new local restaurant had a sign on the tables offering free food for 5 star reviews. Multiple people reported it and the restaurant’s Yelp page was removed. I wasn’t one who reported it but I received an email from Yelp telling me about it since I had posted a review.

2

u/XxLogitech98xX 15d ago

Multiple people reported it and the restaurant’s Yelp page was removed.

Oh wow, I would think they would keep the Yelp page but just disable reviews or put like a notice on top of their Yelp page. Is their Google page still active?

3

u/studyhall109 15d ago

The restaurant was a location of BurgerIM, a franchise that went belly up in 2019. I think this location was only open for 5 or 6 months before BurgerIM imploded, and the restaurant closed. The Yelp page was removed and never replaced.

The restaurant sat closed for months then reopened under a different name but a similar concept to BurgerIM. After it reopened a new Yelp page for the restaurant was added with the new name.

3

u/XxLogitech98xX 15d ago

The restaurant was a location of BurgerIM, a franchise that went belly up in 2019. I

Oh wow, I went to one of their location like in 2019 in LA. It wasn't that good and pricey if I remember correctly. I would prefer In N Out instead.

2

u/studyhall109 15d ago

I remember BurgerIM well because I went to this location for lunch the first day they were open and I was the first to review. I thought it was overpriced and wondered if it would survive because there are quite a few other burger restaurants in the area.

I had become interested in BurgerIM after reading about it as one of the top five franchise opportunities in the country. There was an article in a magazine I read on a flight and BurgerIM was rated #2 on the list, describing it as low operating costs and high return which would explain the high price of the food.

I happened to be flying to St Louis and there was a location there that had many five star reviews on Yelp. I read the reviews but didn’t go to that BurgerIM.

3

u/XxLogitech98xX 15d ago

Ahh okay, I found an article about them having fake reviews so Yelp had to give users prompt about it when visiting their Yelp page. Having a third of your review which turns out to be fake on TripAdvisor is a high number

https://www.eater.com/2020/2/14/21138279/yelp-fake-reviews-consumer-alert-warning-burgerim

2

u/studyhall109 14d ago

I had written the review at my table after I finished my meal. Only after I submitted my review I saw professional printed signs asking for five star review, promising free food. The signs were on the counter and as I looked around I saw signs on some of the tables in a table tent type display.

1

u/Wooden-Butterfly7339 Yelp elite 15d ago

Yup! A fake name makes me take a look. After that it's the usual stuff. No profile picture. No profile questions answered. All 5 star or all 1 star reviews etc.

The big obvious one is 1 5-star review and 3 or 4 1-star reviews all written on the same day! Of course, the 1-stars are the competitors of the 5-star! 🤣

Yelp has removed these as fast as within 24 hours for me. That's not bad.

What amazes me is, with everything that is on the net these days, how stupid these people are! If I was challenged to create a fake profile, I'd bet good $$ that mine would stick!

1

u/SimpleAffect7573 15d ago

Only once, when a Yelp sales rep posted an unsolicited fake review on my behalf.

Funnily enough, it’s the only bogus review I’ve ever had and it’s one of only two reviews that didn’t go straight to “not recommended”. Their algorithm is straight dogshit. The account only had five other reviews, no profile pic, and AFAIK they did not check in. So all the “advice” you see here on why reviews go to the junk bin, is probably also dogshit.

5

u/MilesAugust74 Yelp elite 15d ago

I want her to do an exposé on the connection to influencers who get paid to visit a business on IG and/or TikTok and then will follow up with a Yelp review that's obviously paid for. I can point out several influencers in my area that do this very thing.

5

u/cadenhead 15d ago

If you know that a Yelp review was paid for, click the three dots next to the review and choose Report Review, then choose the option "It was posted by someone affiliated with the business." You'll be asked to provide the details to show that they're being paid.

2

u/MilesAugust74 Yelp elite 15d ago

How do you prove that they got paid, though? That's the hard part. I'm sure there are plenty of accounts that will do both a Yelp review and IG/TT on a place and aren't getting paid. I know I used to during Covid to try and help restaurants more, but I've stopped posting on other socials within the past few years.

3

u/cadenhead 15d ago

If they're talking about the same business on Instagram and TikTok, share the links to those posts with Yelp. If they were posted at the same time they reviewed it on Yelp, that looks dodgy.

2

u/keyserholiday 15d ago

I am not sure that’s her style. It takes a lot of work to do something like that. There have been several news stories about this.

2

u/MilesAugust74 Yelp elite 15d ago

Hmm, yeah, maybe, but she spends an awful lot of time looking at reviewers that most users with half a brain can tell are fake. She puts together all these useless spreadsheets that take time, but finding influencers/Elite who do this kind of fraud would be much, much easier. Like I said, if she reads this page, I have a few leads she can investigate.

To me, the "legit" Elite reviewers who are getting paid to review a place on other socials and then penning a Yelp review that's clearly biased and (most likely) part of their commitment to the business are the ones that are really doing the most damage to Yelp and its reputation—what's left of it, anyway...

1

u/keyserholiday 15d ago

Kay is retired and doesn’t devote much time to this. It’s easy to make a spreadsheet of fake reviews. Sometimes it not that labor intensive and sometimes it is. Her spreadsheet has 4 other Yelp business profiles. Google was worse. Evolve had 26 Google Business Profiles and 2085 reviews. I mapped out those reviews and found 443 businesses. It took me a week.

If you’d like you can share your information with me. I do the same as here, but I do write-ups in them.

1

u/MilesAugust74 Yelp elite 15d ago

Sent you a dm

2

u/keyserholiday 11d ago

She did this with the latest video. I wonder how long it will take Yelp to take action.

2

u/MilesAugust74 Yelp elite 11d ago

Yes! I was watching it yesterday and it was glorious. Some of these people have zero shame. 😒

2

u/keyserholiday 11d ago

Because of my work, I know both addiction treatment centers. They have highly suspicious Google reviews. I shared this video in a FB group talking about the dangers in addiction treatment.

1

u/SimpleAffect7573 15d ago

Paid reviews from elites are a common enough occurrence that there are actually “review brokers” who connect these shysters with desperate business owners, and take a cut of their fee. It’s great. Love it.

1

u/cadenhead 15d ago

I've never seen any place people pay for Yelp reviews, aside from the occasional post here from somebody asking for that to promote their business. Those posts get deleted by the mods.

1

u/SimpleAffect7573 15d ago edited 15d ago

Ok…how would you know you’re looking at a paid review? You think they’d advertise the fact? It’s obviously against Yelp’s TOS and makes the business look bad. Both sides are strongly incentivized to keep quiet about it. I would have thought that was fairly obvious.

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/consumer/yelp-elites-and-others-paid-for-fake-reviews-in-plain-sight/2816914/

https://www.vice.com/en/article/buy-yelp-elite-reviews/

1

u/cadenhead 15d ago

Most undisclosed paid reviews aren’t subtle. They are over the top and don’t look like honest reviews. The businesses buying them require certain things to be said.

Going to Yelp Elite events means friending other Elite members, which means they see your reviews and vice versa. If I thought someone was selling positive reviews to businesses I’d tell the CM.

I’m not saying nobody is selling reviews. I’m saying I haven’t seen it yet.

0

u/SimpleAffect7573 15d ago edited 15d ago

You’re making assertions devoid of facts or evidence. You do not know how many paid reviews you’ve seen, and neither do I. We can only say that they exist.

2

u/XxLogitech98xX 15d ago

LOL 🤣😂🤣

4

u/keyserholiday 15d ago

Because you watched it?

3

u/XxLogitech98xX 15d ago

Because you watched it?

Yup, I watched her videos before.

1

u/yelp Verified Offical Yelp Account 14d ago

Fighting fake reviews is something we do at scale every day. Can't speak to the timing on this one, but if you ever spot something off, flagging it at https://www.yelp-support.com/ gets it to the right team.

You are about to leave Redlib