If five stars can be bought, what would make you trust a review again?

I came across a Malwarebytes Labs finding from November 2, 2026 that stuck with me: underground sellers are now selling fake five-star reviews, and charging $100-$200 to remove a bad review — around $1,100 for an Airbnb listing. So the problem is not only fake praise, it is also reviews being used as leverage.

That made me wonder what trust looks like now. When a business has a wall of five stars, do you still take it at face value, or do you look for something else first — the detail in the review, whether it mentions what was actually bought, photos, a reply from the owner, or reviews spread out over time rather than all at once?

And if you run a small business, how do you show a new customer that your good reviews are real when buyers know five stars can be bought? Is there one thing that would make you trust a review again, or is it more about a combination of small signals adding up?

I am genuinely curious how other people judge this now, as customers and as business owners.

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