Government cracking down on fake online reviews
By Sophie Ladd | 20th July 2021
Companies that try to trick customers into spending more through enticing other online users to make fake reviews of products will see higher fines. The Government is going to crack down on counterfeit evaluations of products from untrustworthy businesses.
Firms who offer subscriptions should also make cancelling a subscription easy for consumers and make it crystal clear what they are getting for the amount they pay.
Which? director of policy and advocacy, Rocio Concha told the BBC that the pandemic has highlighted loopholes in consumer protections that permitted "unscrupulous businesses to exploit customers".
Regulators will receive government help to stamp out such tactics. Businesses will be punished for making products look better than they are through imagery that does not look like the real thing as well as "negative nudges"- a term used to describe when businesses pay for products to be at the top of a trader's website, but the consumer does not know this.
Christmas savings clubs, where customers can put money aside monthly to receive hampers and vouchers in December will have to do more to safeguard consumers' money in the future.
This is after we saw the scandal of Farepak, a company that went bust in 2006 and lost all the money tens of thousands had saved up for Christmas.
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