| In this March file photo, food delivery workers drive motorcycles on a street in Seoul. Yonhap |
By Yoon Ja-young
A man who was paid by restaurants to write positive reviews for them has been sentenced to 10 months in prison.
The man, who runs an internet marketing agency, left reviews with comments such as, “It was delicious,” without even eating the food. From September 2017 to May 2020, restaurant owners agreed to pay him 300,000 won each for 100 reviews.
According to Woowa Brothers, which operates Baedal Minjok (Baemin), the most popular food delivery app in Korea, an appellate court dismissed the man's appeal recently. He was convicted by the Seoul Eastern District Court in November 2020 of writing restaurant reviews without even tasting their food, in exchange for money. The verdict was finalized after he gave up the opportunity to appeal further.
He left a total of 35,000 fake reviews to promote the restaurants on the app, reaping 105 million won ($94,000). He left certain keywords in his reviews so that his clients could tell that it was his work.
Baemin app users can post a review only after ordering food and completing payment, so the company believes the restaurant owners paid him sometime after he made the reviews. He was also commissioned by another marketing agency to leave false reviews.
The ruling is noteworthy, as most fake review cases end up with a slap on the wrist. It may be good news for small businesses that want the playing field to be fair, not to mention for consumers who need accurate information to make their food choices.
Woowa Brothers says that it has been strengthening its monitoring to catch fraudulent reviews. It has been using AI since last November to catch and block them. The system detects reviews left on the app in real time, and automatically blocks suspicious users. The monitoring team then examines them to determine whether to reinstate them or block them permanently. Around 130,000 reviews were suspected to be fraudulent last year alone.
The company says it is undertaking legal proceedings for other similar cases, warning of stern action against fake reviews.