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?