Earlier this week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed its first-ever complaint against a company regarding paid fake reviews on the major online retailer Amazon. The company is, in fact, a supplement brand named Cure Encapsulations, Inc owned by Naftula Jacobowitz.
The FTC’s complaint is in regards to Cure Encapsulations’ weight loss product powered by the ingredient garcinia cambogia. The Commission alleges that brand paid the third-party website amazonverifiedreviews.com to keep its garcinia supplement at an average star rating of 4.3.
The complaint doesn’t actually end there, as the FTC has also alleges that the Cure Encapsulations product had false claims on its Amazon page. Those claims include “powerful appetite suppressant,” “Literally BLOCKS FAT From Forming,” and that the supplement can cause as much as 20lbs of weight loss.
The Director of the Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection says “When a company buys fake reviews to inflate its Amazon ratings, it hurts both shoppers and companies that play by the rules.” You can see the FTC’s press release on the complaint in full, over on the website ftc.gov.
