They emphasize that addressing customer concerns publicly can enhance a company’s reputation more effectively than removing negative feedback. Trustpilot encourages businesses to respond to negative reviews constructively rather than seek their removal. However, this system can sometimes mistakenly flag and remove legitimate negative reviews (Trustpilot) (Guaranteed Removals). Additionally, Trustpilot employs automated fraud detection software to identify and remove suspicious reviews. However, questions about its credibility have been raised, particularly regarding removing negative reviews. Trustpilot is a popular review platform that many consumers and businesses rely on to gauge the reputation of various companies.
For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy . I’m also available for SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS, where I share first-hand experience from years of exposing large-scale fraud, investigating scams, and supporting victims. If you prefer listening to my investigations instead of watching, you’ll find them on every major podcast service. Every video I produce exposes the people behind scams, Ponzi schemes, and MLM frauds — holding them accountable in public. I name and shame individuals promoting or marketing fraudulent schemes through my YOUTUBE CHANNEL. I’m DANNY DE HEK, a New Zealand–based YouTuber, investigative journalist, and OSINT researcher.
Danny de Hek, also known as The Crypto Ponzi Scheme Avenger, is a New Zealand-based investigative journalist specializing in exposing crypto fraud, Ponzi schemes, and MLM scams. In January 2025, the CEO of BuySellAds.com describes on Twitter/X how Trustpilot unfairly removes positive reviews but never negative reviews. On their landing page, FreeCash.com prominently shows a Trustpilot rating of 5 stars, based on an unbelievable almost 250,000 reviews. An examination of negative feedback on Trustpilot indicates concerns regarding potentially fraudulent activity.
Verified vs unverified reviews
Trustpilot is a popular review platform where anyone can rate a business and share their experience. Millions rely on Trustpilot stars when making everyday online decisions. For small and medium businesses, invite-based verification, paid plans from $99 to $799 a month per domain on 12-month contracts, and the staff time to manage a profile often add up to poor value. A “Verified” review on Trustpilot most commonly means the business sent the reviewer a unique invitation link, so the check is against the business’s own customer data. The most reliable alternative is a review platform that uses processor-attested verification, where each review is matched to a transaction record from an independent payment processor (like Stripe), not from the merchant. Reviews flagged by the system go to Trustpilot’s Content Integrity team for investigation.
Is Trustpilot legit? The 5-point answer
Introducing always-on protection with review and rating moderation service instant alerts for risky websites you visite, automatically. This article walks you through everything you must do within minutes of a breach, including the critical steps most victims completely overlook. A free one is also available and this one is used by online scammers. Scammers nowadays also buy old and existing websites to start their malpractice. In addition other websites find this website interesting and relevant and are linking to it.
Look Beyond the Stars
The following month there were 467 reviews, 90% of which awarded five stars. On 14 September 2017, Trustpilot issued an open letter clarifying its review policy following allegations concerning the “validity of reviews of online estate agent Purplebricks by customers”. Trustpilot featured fake reviews for Bizzyloans; it deleted them after they were brought to light by KwikChex, an online investigations company. Independent investigations suggest that platforms like Trustpilot host fake reviews, leading to controversy over their legitimacy and the company’s handling of complaints. Of these, 1.5 million were deleted with fraud protection software and 600,000 were removed manually.
Consumers complain that their genuine negative reviews get flagged and pulled. But if you’re reading a profile and see 200 reviews in a single week followed by silence, that’s a pattern to flag. A business with 90% verified reviews is more trustworthy than one with 90% unverified reviews at the same star rating. A quick breakdown of how Trustpilot collects reviews, verifies users, moderates fake feedback, and decides what gets published or removed. That said, “legit company” doesn’t automatically mean “every review is trustworthy.” Trustpilot Group plc is a Danish-founded consumer reviews company that runs one of the largest review platforms in the world.
The brands in the table all have sufficient market penetration and, according to our research, fairly similar customer satisfaction. If consumers use Google Search to check reviews, they find the Trustpilot scores on the first response page. When Google realizes that their high-ranking of Trustpilot’s content damages their own reputation, Google might penalize Trustpilot, which would effectively destroy Trustpilot’s entire business model, because Google captures about 90% of the global internet search market.
The platform has real problems with its paid-tier business model, fake-review slippage, and dispute handling.
That fraudulent five-star review sat online for over two weeks. You represent that you have sufficient investment sophistication to critically assess the information, analysis and opinion on this website. We conducted research and analysis based on public information in a manner that any person could have done if they had been interested in doing so. Reports are based on generally available information, field research, inferences and deductions through Grizzly Research LLC’s due diligence and analytical process. In May 2021, the BBC aired a story about unfair removals of bad reviews on Trustpilot. In our report, we demonstrate that the current state is fundamentally a fraudulent enterprise at its heart.
On paper, this is to prevent fraudulent posts; in practice, it creates a chilling effect on genuine criticism. This last point is crucial — paying clients can contest negative reviews, forcing the reviewer to verify purchase details or risk removal. Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age.