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If a company makes false or misleading claims, report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov

When searching for a place to live — or a person to live with — honest and trustworthy information is vital. And reviews about platforms that can supposedly help you in your search should be, well, honest and trustworthy too. But according to the FTC and six states suing Roomster and its owners, the room and roommate finder platform posted reviews and other information that was neither.

The lawsuit announced today alleges Roomster posted fake positive reviews and made deceptive claims about its listings being real, available, and verified — to convince people to use its platform. The FTC and states also announced an action against “AppWinn” operator Jonathan Martinez, who the complaint alleges supplied thousands of the fake reviews to Roomster.

When a company has a lot of fake, glowing reviews online, they can dilute real ones that describe customers’ actual experiences. This can make it tough for people to make informed decisions about which products or services to buy and use. Here, Roomster’s customers — mostly students, people with lower incomes, and those living in areas with little affordable housing — have ended up paying millions of dollars for information on rentals that often didn’t even exist.

So if you’re looking at online reviews for housing or anything else:

  • Think about the source of the reviews you’re reading. What do you know about the reviewers that makes them trustworthy?
  • Compare reviews from a variety of well-known sources, not just one site. Start with websites recognized for having credible and impartial reviews.
  • Search online for the company name along with terms like “complaint,” “scam,” or “fraud” to see what issues others might have had.

If a company makes false or misleading claims, report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

It is your choice whether to submit a comment. If you do, you must create a user name, or we will not post your comment. The Federal Trade Commission Act authorizes this information collection for purposes of managing online comments. Comments and user names are part of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) public records system, and user names also are part of the FTC’s computer user records system. We may routinely use these records as described in the FTC’s Privacy Act system notices. For more information on how the FTC handles information that we collect, please read our privacy policy.

The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.

  • We won’t post off-topic comments, repeated identical comments, or comments that include sales pitches or promotions.
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  • We won’t post threats, defamatory statements, or suggestions or encouragement of illegal activity.
  • We won’t post comments that include personal information, like Social Security numbers, account numbers, home addresses, and email addresses. To file a detailed report about a scam, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them. They do not belong to or represent views of the Federal Trade Commission.

KB
August 31, 2022

Very good advice

Beth H
August 31, 2022

I hope you will update readers with the results of the legal action, and also if people who paid for the service receive refunds.

Little Bear
September 02, 2022

In reply to by Beth H

Wouldn't that be grand! I'm looking forward to finding out what happens.

c b hamaker
August 31, 2022

if these people are prosecuted ( and they sure better be) , their trials/ sentences should be publicized as a deterrent to the thousands of scammers who think this kind of thing is just a game and has no consequences! we have become a world of cheats and it won't stop until the punishments are widely publicized!

Alaine
September 02, 2022

In reply to by c b hamaker

You are correct. The world we live in today is one bid scam, cheat. People just do not know who to trust anymore .

D
August 31, 2022

This whole world is one big lie anymore

Jim
August 31, 2022

Thank all yall for your work. We the public think yall do one heck of a job. These TV adds are on the line of falsehood. Have a great day.

joan
August 31, 2022

these people that do this mean and bad things should be held very liable for all these things that they do

GENE
August 31, 2022

If the FTC were to go after all those online making false or misleading claims, they would have to hire a much larger staff...just saying.

Little Bear
September 02, 2022

Thanks bunches for doing something about this practice. I'm trying to find better places to get on waiting lists for housing. I tried a few sites and apps with poor results. People claimed to have excellent results though. I now check reviews from lowest to highest for everything!
Enjoy each marvelous day now! If y'all woke up breathing you're having one. Should you not believe it, try getting an attitude transplant.🤔🤭🖖

Dee
September 02, 2022

Can't agree more with C B Hamaker. Publicize this and make it known these fraudsters will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law. Thank you FTC for the wonderful job you are doing to help us all.

Leanna
September 12, 2022

Roomster is just a needle in a haystack. It happens all the time. Like for example a local auto repair shop offers Amazon gift card for posting a glowing review. Apartment buildings have their employees posing as tenants to post good reviews, most of these sing songs about the rental agents but not about apartments for the obvious reason. And don't even get me started with Amazon. I purchased some junk on the river, it came with an offer of a gift card for a good review; I didn't do it. There are literally tons of FB groups promising gift cards for posting sellers reviews. I can go on and on but will wrap up for now.