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0Shoppers must guard against fake customer reviews online
买家需警惕网购虚假好评
China has become a global leader in e-commerce because Chinese consumers have taken to online shopping like fish takes to water. What has made this miracle possible is the high internet penetration rate (77.5 percent by 2023) in China.
中国之所以成为全球电子商务的领导者，是因为中国消费者对网购如鱼得水。而促成这一奇迹的重要原因之一，是中国高达77.5%的互联网普及率（截至2023年）。
In the first three quarters of this year, online retail sales in China reached 10.89 trillion yuan ($1.51 trillion), up 8.6 percent year-on-year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The continuous rise in online sales revenue can be attributed to online shopping becoming increasingly mainstream in China, especially during the "Double Eleven" (Nov 11) shopping festival.
据国家统计局数据显示，今年前三季度，中国网络零售额达到10.89万亿元人民币（约合1.51万亿美元），同比增长8.6%。网购逐渐成为主流消费方式，特别是在“双十一”购物节期间，网络销售额持续攀升。
As China's biggest annual online shopping event, the festival, which this year actually started at the end of October, has been playing a vital role in further stimulating the appetite of consumers for years despite online buyers having become more rational.
作为中国最大的一年一度购物盛宴，今年双十一从十月底就拉开帷幕，近年来持续激发消费者的购买热情，然而消费者在决策上也变得更加理性。
Online merchants now find it difficult to sell their products to consumers who know exactly what they want. This has prompted some online merchants to choose wrong and even illegal tactics to attract consumers. One such illegal tactic is to post fake customer reviews online.
面对需求更加明确的消费者，网络商家要吸引顾客消费变得愈发困难。部分商家因此选择不当甚至违法手段来吸引消费者，其中一种便是刷虚假好评。
For example, some businesses promise buyers a small amount of refund on their purchase if they write a positive review, preferably with photographs, or offer other benefits to lure consumers into writing "five-star" reviews despite the poor quality of their products. Worse, some online shops even hire ghostwriters to post a large number of manipulated reviews and photographs online to promote their products or services. Incidentally, photographs can cause more trouble than fake consumer reviews because most probably they are stolen from some other e-shops or platforms.
比如，一些商家承诺，消费者只要给出带图片的好评，就能获得小额返现，也有商家用其他奖励诱导消费者为低质商品留下“五星好评”。更有甚者，一些网店甚至雇佣“水军”，通过大批量虚假评论和盗用图片来夸大产品或服务的质量。这些盗用图片的行为，可能比普通的虚假评价更具危害性，因为它们很可能是从其他网点或者电商平台盗用的。
Customers losing trust in the products and services will harm the development of the e-commerce sector, and deal a blow to online enterprises that do business in good faith. To address this problem, the authorities should take action to deter online enterprises from indulging in such acts. Online shoppers, too, have a role to play in curbing such harmful behavior by resisting the lure of a small amount of money and sounding the alarm against those e-shops that offer them "bribes" to write fake reviews. As for online enterprises, they should abide by the law.
如果顾客对产品和服务失去信任，将严重影响电商行业的健康发展，也会殃及诚信经营的网络商家。为解决该问题，有关部门需要采取更严格的措施，制止商家从事这些违法行为。同时，消费者也应制止这种行为，主动抵制小额返现的诱惑，警惕提供“好评奖励”的商家。网络商家则更应自觉遵守法律，诚信经营。
Fortunately , people are becoming more aware of the developments on online platforms and are prepared to do their bit to ensure the culprits receive due punishment according to law. Also, the State Administration for Market Regulation introduced fair competition regulation, especially for the internet industry, in May, to deal with infringements of consumer rights on online platforms including fake orders and manipulated reviews.
幸运的是，越来越多的消费者已经意识到这种现象的危害，并愿意参与进来，使不良商家受到法律的制裁。此外，为了维护消费者权益，国家市场监督管理总局于今年5月出台了《网络反不正当竞争暂行规定》，重点打击网购平台上虚假订单和操控评价等侵犯消费者权利的行为。
