Yelp, Facebook and Google have pulled dozens of reviews from the web after an NBC4 I-Team report uncovered proof that many on-line reviews, and reviewer profiles, are pretend.

“It’s against our policies to misrepresent yourself on Facebook,” firm spokesperson Annie Demarest informed the I-Team, after NBC4 aired examples of faux reviews on the Facebook web page of Beverly Hills dentist Dr. Rodney Raanan.

The I-Team observed a number of 5-star reviews had popped up on a single day on Dr. Raanan’s Facebook web page, from individuals who did not appear to exist. For instance, on May 25 2016, twelve reviews have been posted on the dentist’s web page.

“We removed the fake accounts that left the inauthentic reviews,” Facebook’s Demarest advised the I-Team.

Google additionally has yanked dozens of reviews uncovered as pretend by the I-Team.

A Google reviewer named “Janet Downer” gave glowing reviews to 15 companies within the U.S., Canada, and England.

But the I-Team came upon there isn’t a such “Janet Downer,” and the photograph on the reviews truly belongs to Whitney Miller, the primary winner of TV’s Masterchef competitors. Miller says her image was taken off the web with out her information or permission and placed on pretend reviews of these 15 companies.

“I have never heard of these [businesses],” Miller informed the I-Team. “I have never visited any of these places.”

The I-Team additionally discovered what seemed to be quite a few pretend reviewers on Yelp, like “Alexis R” of San Diego. She gave glowing reviews to 6 California companies, although the lady within the photograph is seemingly a mannequin in Russia named Olga Sukhanova.

“The Yelp user support team has decided to close the four accounts you reported. Thank you for flagging these,” Yelp spokesperson Rachel Walker Youngblade advised the I-Team.

Yelp, Google and Facebook all recommend that buyers notify them of suspicious reviews. The corporations say they will examine, and take away reviews they decide discover to be pretend.

The I-Team has reached out to Dr. Raanan a number of occasions for remark, however he has not returned telephone calls.

Published at 10:02 PM PDT on Sep 28, 2017