Amazon's automated algorithms for ranking products are being targeted by scammers seeking to boost certain products and disadvantage others. Some sellers are reportedly paying groups of workers in Bangladesh to repeatedly type in search terms and click on products to boost their position on the site's search results. The scam is so common that Amazon has created a page dedicated to it called "Product Hacking Scams." Amazon says that such activity makes up a tiny proportion of the traffic on its site, and that it is using sophisticated machine learning tools to identify and pursue those behind it.
Amazon's automated algorithms for ranking products are being targeted by scammers seeking to boost certain products and disadvantage others. Some sellers are reportedly paying groups of workers in Bangladesh to repeatedly type in search terms and click on products to boost their position on the site's search results. Others are using similar tactics to barrage their rivals' products with negative reviews to harm their listings. Amazon says that such activity makes up a tiny proportion of the traffic on its site, and that it is using sophisticated machine learning tools to identify and pursue those behind it.