- BBB says it vets reviews and sends them to the business before publication, so the strongest moment to flag a fake is the notice, not after it is live.
- A review you think is unfair is not the same as a fake one. BBB says it cannot guarantee the accuracy or truthfulness of any single review.
- The checkable question is whether a marketplace interaction took place. Your records answer it, and a missing match is your evidence.
- BBB points reporters of fake reviews to its Scam Tracker page and to the platform that hosts the review.
- The FTC rule bans fake and paid reviews and bans using groundless legal threats or intimidation to remove real ones.
On this page
What BBB Verifies Before a Review Goes Live
BBB says it validates the reviewer's email or phone, verifies that a marketplace interaction took place, and sends the review to the business before it is published.
A fake BBB review is a review written by someone who never dealt with your business, or one written in exchange for something of value. Real customers who are simply wrong, harsh or unreasonable are a different case, and we sort them out below. This guide sits in our BBB reviews hub and focuses on the fake end of the spectrum.
BBB describes a process that is built to keep fakes out. The table lays out each published check and what it gives you as the owner.
| What BBB says it does | Why it matters to you |
|---|---|
| Only the original consumer who had a marketplace interaction can file a review | A review from someone with no interaction breaks BBB's own rule |
| The reviewer's email address or phone number is validated | A real contact point exists behind the review, even if it is not shown to the public |
| The reviewer gives a name, which is shared with the business to help confirm the interaction | You can search your records for that name before the review appears |
| The review is vetted by BBB and sent to the business before it is published | You get a window to confirm the interaction and respond |
| Anonymous reviews are not accepted, and neither are reviews where the consumer was compensated, directly or indirectly | A reviewer who was paid, or who was promised a reward, is outside BBB's rules |
| Inappropriate language and personal information are removed before publication | Abusive or identifying text should not reach your profile |
Sources: how BBB customer reviews work and the BBB customer reviews FAQ. BBB also says that a consumer with a real experience must choose between a complaint and a review. They cannot file both about the same experience.
BBB states that even with all these steps it cannot guarantee the accuracy or truthfulness of any single review. A process that checks for an interaction does not check whether the story is true.
The Notice Is Your Best Chance to Flag a Fake
The best moment to challenge a suspect review is the pre-publication notice, because BBB asks the business to confirm the interaction before the review goes live.
BBB says the business has an opportunity to confirm the customer interaction and respond before a review is published. It also says reviews are typically processed in 10 days or less, per its value of reviews page. That is a short window, and it only helps if the notice reaches someone who acts on it.
In our work since 2013, the most common reason an owner meets a questionable review for the first time on the live profile is that the notice went to an old email address or an inbox nobody checks. Fix that before anything else.
- Log in to your BBB business account and confirm the contact email is a monitored address
- Add a second person who can see notices, so one vacation does not close the window
- Search records the same day a notice arrives, not at the end of the week
- Answer the notice in writing, stating whether the interaction happened and why
- Keep a copy of what you sent and the date you sent it
When the review is already live, the same logic applies. Confirm the interaction question in writing through your business account, then follow up with your local BBB. We found no BBB page that publishes a fixed deadline or a formal appeal form for a published review, so treat any firm that quotes you a removal date as guessing.
Want a Specialist to Look at Your BBB Profile?
We will check every published rating element on your file and tell you exactly what is costing you points. Free, and honest about what can and cannot change.
Fake, Unfair or Real: Sort the Review First
Sort the review into fake, rule-breaking, unfair-but-real or ordinary before you decide anything, because each one has a different path.
| What you are looking at | What BBB's rules say | Your move |
|---|---|---|
| No record of the reviewer, no matching order, call or visit | Review requires a marketplace interaction | Dispute the interaction in writing with your records search attached |
| Reviewer admits a reward, or you find proof of payment | Compensated reviews are not accepted | Report to BBB in writing with the proof |
| Review includes a phone number, home address or similar details | BBB removes personal information before publication | Ask BBB in writing to apply that rule |
| Review is profane or abusive | BBB removes inappropriate language before publication | Ask BBB in writing to apply that rule |
| Real customer, harsh tone, facts you dispute | BBB cannot guarantee accuracy of any single review | Respond with your side. Removal is unlikely |
| Real customer, honest bad experience | Allowed | Fix the problem and respond |
| Same business name, different location or owner | Reviewer interacted with a business, just not yours | Show the mismatch with licensing, address and phone details |
Notice what is missing. A review that is wrong, one-sided or painful to read is not on the list of things BBB says it removes. If a real customer wrote it, plan to respond. Our guide on how to respond to a BBB review covers that path, and can a BBB review be removed explains who can retract one.
Build the Evidence File
A strong dispute is a short written statement plus a records search that shows no match for the reviewer.
BBB cannot act on a hunch. Give whoever reads your dispute something they can check in minutes.
Capture the review as it appears
Save a dated screenshot of the review and the date it was posted, before anything changes.
Search every system for the name
Check your customer list, invoices, quotes, email, phone logs, payment processor and any booking tool. Try spelling variants, nicknames and the name of a spouse or business.
Search by details in the text
If the reviewer names a service, a date, a location or an employee, test each one. A service you do not offer, or a date you were closed, is concrete.
Rule out an honest mix-up
Look for a customer with the same surname, a prior owner, or a business with a similar name before you call anything fake.
Write one page
State what you searched, what you found, the date you searched, and which BBB rule you are asking BBB to apply. Attach the screenshot.
Never edit, backdate or delete records to strengthen the file. If you find that the reviewer was a customer, say so, and move to the response path.
Red Flags That Support a Dispute, and Their Limits
Generic names, near-identical wording in a short window, and details that do not fit your business can support a dispute, but none of them replace the records search.
BBB publishes a guide to spotting fake reviews written for shoppers. It lists generic reviewer names, very short one-star or five-star reviews, several similar reviews posted close together, vague or scene-setting wording that is not about the service, and odd phrasing. BBB also says third-party detection tools are not infallible.
That page does not describe BBB's own verification of reviews, and it is aimed at online marketplaces. On BBB, the reviewer must give a name that is shared with you, so the strongest signal is a name that matches nothing in your files. Use the red flags as supporting detail in your written dispute, never as the headline.
A review that sounds fake can still come from a real customer who simply writes badly. Always check records first. Calling a real customer a fraud in public can turn one bad review into two.
Where to Report a Fake Review
Report a suspect BBB review to BBB through your business account and your local BBB, and report suspected scams to BBB Scam Tracker and the FTC.
- Your BBB business account and local BBB: the place to dispute the interaction, with your one-page file attached.
- BBB Scam Tracker: BBB's fake review page points reporters to its Scam Tracker for fake review reports. Use it when the review looks like part of a wider scheme, such as a batch of identical reviews.
- The platform that hosts the review: BBB says reporting to the platform helps remove fakes faster. For reviews on Google or other sites, use that site's own report tool.
- The FTC: the 2024 rule covers fake and paid reviews, and the FTC takes reports through ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
If someone is pressuring you to buy or change reviews, keep every message. BBB's guidance on suppression and the FTC rule treat threats and intimidation as a problem, whichever side uses them.
What the FTC Rule Means for Both Sides
The FTC rule, effective October 21, 2024, bans fake and paid reviews and bans using groundless threats to remove honest ones, so it limits what you can do to others and protects you from the same.
You can
- Report a fake or compensated review with evidence
- Respond publicly in a calm, factual tone
- Invite every customer to leave an honest review
- Ask the reviewer to contact you privately to resolve a real problem
You cannot
- Write, buy or sell fake reviews, including AI-generated ones
- Offer a discount, gift or payment tied to a review's sentiment
- Post insider reviews without clear disclosure of the connection
- Use groundless legal threats, intimidation or false accusations to make a reviewer delete a real review
These limits come from the FTC's announcement of the final rule and BBB's own page on encouraging reviews. BBB also says it does not accept incentivized reviews of any kind, and that BBB Accredited Businesses may not use non-disparagement clauses in consumer contracts. We do not write, buy or incentivize reviews, and we do not suppress honest ones.
A Worked Example
Here is how the steps look on a made-up case.
For example, imagine a fictional roofing company called Summit Peak Roofing. A one-star review appears from a name that matches no invoice, estimate or call. The text describes a gutter repair, and the company only installs roofs.
- The owner saves a dated screenshot.
- The office manager searches invoices, estimates, calls and the payment processor, including spelling variants, and finds nothing.
- The owner writes one page: records searched, nothing found, a service mismatch, and a request that BBB apply its rule that a marketplace interaction must have taken place.
- The owner posts a short public reply stating that the company has no record of this customer and invites the reviewer to call.
- The owner calendars a follow-up with the local BBB.
No outcome is promised in this example. BBB decides what to do with the file. The owner's job is to make the question easy to answer and to be polite in public either way.
Common Mistakes
Most failed disputes share the same handful of errors.
- Calling a real, unhappy customer fake in public
- Skipping the records search and arguing about tone
- Letting the pre-publication notice sit unread
- Contacting the reviewer with an offer to pay for a removal, which runs against BBB's rule on compensated reviews and the FTC rule
- Posting your own friendly reviews to bury the bad one
- Paying a firm that promises a removal date
When to Call a Specialist
Call a specialist when the records point to a fake and you want the dispute built and tracked, or when you are unsure whether a review qualifies.
Our BBB review disputes service builds the policy-based file described above, and our free BBB audit checks your whole profile, including complaints that do affect your grade. Our removal service page explains how a BBB review challenge works. All work is results-based. Before work starts we agree in writing on the result, such as removing a specific review, and you pay when that result is delivered. We cannot promise a removal, and BBB makes the final call.
Reputation Resolutions, our parent company, also explains its done-for-you process on its BBB review management page. Business Rating Fix, the BBB rating division of Reputation Resolutions, is independent of the BBB and does not control its decisions.
Anthony Will
Founder and CEO, Reputation Resolutions
Anthony Will founded Reputation Resolutions and has worked in online reputation management since 2013. Reputation Resolutions is BBB Accredited with an A+ rating and is a Google Partner. Business Rating Fix is its Better Business Bureau rating division.
- In online reputation management since 2013
- Reputation Resolutions: BBB Accredited, A+ rated
- Google Partner
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Fact-checked against bbb.org · Updated November 2026
