For several years, ACCO expert Kathryn Dean has been combing through online review sites, particularly Yelp and Google, documenting thousands of fake reviews by hundreds of businesses. Almost everything she has found originates on Facebook. Read Dean’s op-ed.

Reveal takes a deep dive into the trade in fake reviews that engages doctors, small businesses, and pizza shops too across Yelp, Facebook and Google. We’re guided on our journey by former fraud investigator Kay Dean, whose own encounter with fake reviews took her into the world of Black Hat Marketing. Listen to the podcast.

Review websites are riddled with fake reviews foisted upon consumers by the tech companies who take advantage of federal legislation that holds them unaccountable for user generated content. Read the article.

Dean has spent the past three years uncovering these networks, spurred by her own negative experience with a medical practitioner in California who had fake reviews. Her research laid the foundation for CBC's investigation. Read the article.

From rehab centers to family doctors, patients trying to find good medical care are increasingly finding fake consumer reviews — and there are no signs of an imminent crackdown. Read the article.