Fake video testimonials - Truly sickening trend

This is ridiculous.

There were a few threads on here yesterday about it. I can understand if people are paying someone to read a true testimonial they were given, but even then you have to state that its an actor...and apparently people aren't doing that. Sad thing when people have to resort to lying and deception to sell....

Amen, Lance.
Anyone who would take (or pay) $5 for something illegitimate makes me wonder what they would take from me.
Integrity is free... and priceless.

I want to point out many of these providers do more than just testimonials. I have them reading scripts like recipes for youtube.

I am pointing this out because my name is plastered all over the reviews of these video offers and I am NOT buying fake testimonials.

Gene, it is TRUE!

And the fake video testimonials are not the only spoof video IMers need to be highly concerned about. I just commented on another thread about this issue.

The big TRICK now?

These shysters have mastered the art of using FAKE Proof of Income Videos.

I saw a FAKE Clickbank Proof of Income Video this morning that was as real and slick as it gets.

In these videos, it looks like the marketer is actually taking viewers behind the scenes into their Clickbank, PayPal, Adsense, CJ, and other monetization accounts; when in fact these are 100% SPOOF videos designed to incite false buy now pandemonium.

If you are one of those individuals who demands proof of income VIA video, pictures or testimonials, it is safe to say that you should scratch that ideology off your list of acceptable methods of determining the integrity and/or veracity of an offer.

Gilles, the Crew Chief

The collective crock to hold all the BS that's out there just keeps getting bigger and smellier.

If you are a seller, and are thinking about spending ANY amount of money for a fake testimonial, then may I suggest you use your time or money to improve your product instead?

While some buyers don't care about testimonials, I try to include them as part of my sales pages. However, they are all legitimate, and I only ask for "honest comments" or "feedback". If that happens to be positive, great! If not, then I see where I can improve.

Anyway, not to sound cynical, but it makes me wonder what these bottom-feeding hucksters will think of next.

All the best,
Michael

I'm not seeing the word "fake" in those ads anywhere... did I miss it?

There is a difference between a testimonial and an endorsement.

If a celebrity says they use a product, then the FTC says they better be an actual user of that product. That then becomes a testimonial.

However, if they say we should try it, that's an endorsement.

Also, if you look closely enough, you will usually be able to see wording that says something to the effect of "Paid Endorsement", or similar.

All the best,
Michael

Mods: Please note the Report I submitted regarding a current WSO using two of these fakes. Thanks.

This is no different then walking in a car lot, and the sales person telling you how much better their truck is better then chevy, or ford, or dodge, or nissan,,,,,,,,.

Its no different then a sales person at Best Buy telling you how much better their HP computer is better then a dell or sony.

Its no different then a commercial telling you how Tylenol is better then Advil.

Whether its a local Big Box Mart or a online sales person, buying reviews and opinions is just a fact of life.

That's why I own believe reviews from credible people that -> I <- know to be trustworthy in their product creation or testimonial giving.

Does that limit the pool of products I might try...yup?

Does that hurt my wallet or brain from bad products or worse support? Nope!

Whether its fake testimonials, proof of income, fake blogs, fake cheques...like the old saying goes, "you can't believe everything you see online."

~Dexx

I buy testimonials from Fiverr and they aren't fake testimonials.

I pay $5, give the person my software for free to try out and ask them to provide me with a review or testimonial of my product.

What's wrong with that?

+1 Dexx!

I am new to WF and am finding my way around.

I have a WSO up at the moment.

I appreciated all the reviews --all of which were honest, I might add.

But I was especially glad to get reviews from experienced Warriors.

It wasn't just flattering that they liked my product, it brought real credibility, I felt.

I automatically find myself scanning for reviews from people with a decent number of posts when I am looking at other WSOs.

Not that you can dismiss reviews by people with just a few posts out of hand --I bought and reviewed a WSO on another thread myself!

In short: it's not an exact science, but reviews from experienced Warriors at least says a couple of things to me: This person has been around. They have probably seen most of what's available. They probably know how to separate the wheat from the chaff... They can probably spot a scam a mile off.

All of which means that their review is probably worth paying attention to.

****

But paying for reviews.. surely that will *have* to catch up with the perpetrators sometime.

Karma is a cruel mistress, that's all I say!

That's just pure deception and those ppl offering fake testimonials should be banned!

Firstly I think its deceptive and wrong to hire people just to post postive reviews.

Secondly Paul Myers said it wont be allowed to happend on this forum which I think is right. So if you think you see one of these you should report it.

I think alot of it depends on what type of product you are advertising.

A $5 testimonial for an e-book or guide I don't think is unreasonable if you're trying to get your reviewer to say it has detailed information and the product itself is good.

However, if you use a $5 testimonial on software that doesn't work or suck like the Gurus do then you have a problem on your hands, which will result in mass refunds.

Just my thoughts

Personally, I don't even see how this issue is up for a debate.

Call it what you want, but some of us see things as right or wrong. If that makes me self-righteous, then deal with it.

I don't see how your snide comment contributed anything whatsoever to this thread. However, you are certainly entitled to say what you wish, and we get to respond.

Anyway, that's just my opinion.

All th best,
Michael

If the maker of the WSO wrote on the sales page "I paid these people in the videos $5 to pretend to be my customer and claim they bought this WSO and loved it"

They would obviously make less sales right.

And thats the whole point. Your not meant to know about. Its using sneaky tricks. Just like faking earnings sometimes you will get found out as what happened to a previous WSO and then the $hit hits the fan.

The point being as a marketer you should be completely transparent about your products, testimonials and earnings etc.

You should have nothing to hide or get found out about.

What a daft idea this is!

Aside from being totally unethical the,
consequence of which usually backfires
burns your soul and screws you up
psychologically, sooner or later
you're bound to be found out and then
you'll discover that the Internet is a
very small village after all.

If you need fake testimonials, video
or otherwise, on your sales page
then it doesn't say much for either
your product, your copywriter,
or you.

Stephen

P.S. Have you noticed recently that
several top-marketers seem to be
promoting quite inferior Clickbank
products, which I am sure few have
benchmarked for effecacy.

Steven,

Maybe we're on different pages. We're talking about Fiverr.com where people pay "money" to get their testimonials. This is just dead wrong because you don't get people's testimonials by "paying" them. Real testimonials come voluntarily by trying out the product. If they actually tried, implemented the product and felt good about the product (or better made money from it), then they would give you their testimonials without you even asking for it.

I guess you can also ask for testimonials by giving them a free copy but that's another story. Hope you understand my point.

Joe

Using fake testimonials is both foolish... and pointless.

Why take the risk of being labeled a fraud when it's so easy to get real, legitimate testimonials?

- John

Yes, now the playing field is leveled with fiverr so citizen Joe can do it too.
Big corporations do far worse unethical stuff than fake testimonials. Unfortunately even if you heavily police stuff, there will always be corrupt people finding some loophole and game the system. Ethical sellers should take it as their duty to educate the customer base.

When I was moving and called a bunch of places to get quotes, one of the 20 companies I called was really helpful and they educated me on hidden fees, how people say there is no charge for this and that but they charge you anyway so I should get all assurances in writing. They really took the time to tell me a lot of good info.

I am going to do this and educate my customers about fake testimonials, fake reviews, etc, in fact I am going to send them a whole checklist on what to watch out for when buying WSO or other products. Thanks for giving me the good idea!

For the record, my own take is that fake testimonials, of any sort, fall into the same category as false or misleading product claims, false or misleading revenue claims, etc.

Ok, that said -

Manufacturers do print & TV spots with 'fake' i.e. paid - bought - testimonials all the time. When you see an infomercial with 'customers' claiming "I lost xx pounds with xxxx...", or "This has been the best xxxx...", those aren't 'real' testimonials. Those are actors, reading a script provided to them. Not too different that a fiverr paid testimonial.

The fact that there is a weasly disclaimer in unreadable point size flashed at the bottom of the screen for 4 seconds doesn't make it 'right' - that is simply a CYA legal compliance.

Would having an intentionally-hard-to-notice, tiny disclaimer somewhere make those paid fiverr testimonials suddenly ok?

The fact of the matter is that these are intended to 'fool' potential consumers the same way a fiverr fake testimonial is.

They're both wrong.

And with all THAT said, I think this is essentially a matter of degrees. As far as I'm concerned, false claims on a sales letter, pictures of a Ferrari in front of a mansion, etc., are all manufactured attempts to convey something that is at best an exaggeration, if not overtly disingenuous or simply lies.

bfas

It's not deceptive advertisng PAUL. You just don't get it do you?

Not a lot of sense in that head of yours Paul.

Nothing deceptive at all about buying a testimonial. Have you heard of exchanging money for time? No? Do I have to explain it to you?

Sad ignorant old man.

Guys, there are obviously some very strong opinions on both sides of the issue here, but let's not allow this spiral downward. The point of this thread is to create awareness, especially for those who are new to IM and don't realize just how prevalent phony testimonials are, whether they be video, audio, written or otherwise.

Let's get this back to a healthy conversation rather than a heated argument, or the thread may vanish into oblivion. Thank you.

Thanks for starting the thread and pointing that out, Gene. I'm not going to judge, but at least I'm aware...though not surprised.

Exactly! Since it's not always possible to determine if the testimonials are real or fake it's probably best to avoid them. That's all there is to it in my opinion.

Hey Paul, one more post and you'll be at 10,000! Milestone!

Testimonial fraud is nothing new.

Anybody ever bought a product based on raving reviews from the in-bred inner circle gurus and discovered it was complete hype and BS?

How about cult member reviews where people sing the praises of the product without having even used it? (see some WSO threads for examples)

The harsh reality is IM is a mine field for doe eyed newbies.

I would recommend noobs assume ALL testimonials are suspect and instead rely on the strength of the guarantee (e.g. ClickBank is safer for refunds than Paydotcom, .etc) until they gain first hand experience of who gives reliable advise and they learn how to spot the massive amount of BS that permeates the IM world.

I don't usually post anything emotive or otherwise on threads because I think the forum is for sharing positive information and helpful tips but this thread made me feel quite angry.

How can anybody just right off the fact that there are fraudsters in IM? The reputation of the IM as an industry impacts all of us as individuals - doesn't anybody get that? So being annoyed or upset or even raising awareness about an important issue like "another way IMer's will lie to you" is actually a big deal and is something that should be taken seriously. If anybody is lying to their customers, with fake testimonials or proof of income then they are negatively impacting my business as an Internet Marketer and that does concern me. Doesn't it bother you?

Secondly what ever happened to ethics - since when did they come second place to making a buck? Can the argument that our business is consumer driven make selling your ethics a "means to an end"? Look at the number of WSOs promising thousands - how many of them actually work? I know some do - I buy them and use them myself - but if just one WSO has fake proof of income or fake testimonials then it makes all of us look bad.

I don't like it. I don't think being a fraud in any way shape or form can be justified. And I have spent a lot of time on fiverr in the past and can clearly see that there are a number of people who will sell their soul for $4 (even the site name is a lie - you have to pay $1 in fees for each gig you do) - promoting you to their fan page; tweeting about you using the messages you have provided them with; giving written or video testimonials - they are doing it for $4 - they don't know you, they don't want to get to know you; they want to make $4 from you. And in my opinion (and yes it is just an opinion) the value that they give your business, or the Internet Marketing community isn't even worth that.

Making money online for at least 50% of people is hard enough as it is. Why make it even harder by ignoring, or trivializing the problems the IM industry has with scam artists and fraudsters - if we all made an ethical stand about this then maybe something positive could result for all of us in the industry - like being able to build a relationship with a client without having to overcome their reservations because they have read that there are so many scam artists out there.

My 2 cents
Lisa

Tsk. Sloppy. The act of buying the testimonial isn't the problem. I could buy as many of them as I wanted, as long as I don't use them.

The problem is using one or more in a way that's likely to influence people to buy something based on untrue statements.

By the way... Julian? Or one of his clones?

No matter.


Paul

Err, since there is a big thread about this, some newbs will probably think this is a good idea and give it a shot.

You could twist this method and you use it in a way that doesn't suggest that these people are your customers at all! Thinking about it it would work rather well but that is rather Black Hat and not the best thing that you would ever want to do if you were looking at building a long term income with a solid relationship with your customers.

I'm not sure what the confusion is here? All you have to do is ask the simple question; "why am I paying this person to give me a testimonial?"

Any other answer than "I want to use it to influence others into buying my product" imho is lying.

Which is where the rubber meets the road and you have to ask... why in the world would anyone intentionally defend that it's ethical to pay someone to say nice things about a product the reviewer would otherwise care less about, when they know that this is to be used to influence genuine product seekers??

I don't see the gray area here. And to those that might say, it's done on TV, and it's done by so-and-so... sorry, but that logic equates to something I learned when I was 5 years old - "be responsible for your own actions. Two wrongs don't make a right"

Will

Thanks for all the valuable contributions in this thread. This has inspired me to write a long-ish WSO buying guide and send it off to my list and social media followers. I made a long checklist on how to research WSO's before buying and I hope it will help a lot of people.

Those of you with lists (and integrity): Please educate your subscribers on buying WSO's and IM products in general, tell them what to look for and what kind of red flags to avoid, I think it's very important to educate our prospects and customers.

This thread has appalled me to say the least.

I knew screenshots could be faked, and then was surprised as people could go so far as faking video 'income proof' too. But this...

Buying Video Testimonials and Reviews not only disgusts me, but saddens me. I have always been proud of the reviews I get, moreover I take pride in Video Reviews and Testimonials I get on my wso thread.

Just to find out that Video Testimonials are now being faked and abused feels like waking up from a nightmare where I'm wrongfully accused of something I haven't done and I am about to be prosecuted on that basis as well.

The fact that I encourage and proudly display video testimonials was primarily based on the very same foundations of integrity and authenticity. Because I saw there was too many people abusing income proof in one way or the other, fake clickbank, paypal and adsense screenshots was slowly becoming the 'norm' of the industry's dark circle and even saw paypal proof videos to be starting to fake.

Paul may particularly remember the instance where this girl had a fake video on a wso and she was offering coaching for $1500 or something, claiming she was making 6-7 figures flipping websites and showing around £50,000+ in her paypal (video) alone. She got banned after being called out, and rightly so.

My point is, I started doing 'results based' video testimonials and reviews on my sales pages to stand out. As they couldn't be faked (or so I thought) and were much better than 'this is a good product' type reviews.

Anyways, this has turned out be a rant. Mainly because I'm saddened by the OP and was having a good day feeling merry for what I do and the services I provide that provide Real Value to people lives and not just their businesses.

I, however, continue to stand by the proof, reviews and testimonials provided on both my wsos and other sales pages.

End of Rant.

Maddi Murtaza

What blows my mind is that legitimate testimonials are so easy to get and they have a much more lasting, viral effect than phony ones that I just don't understand the mindset of paying for testimonials. I guess it's the allure of the quick buck.

RoD

Not to throw a wrench into the OP's thread, but I've bought testimonials from fiverr. And when I did, I actually sent the person the product to review.

There's no difference between doing this, and giving the product away for someone to review. Either way you're giving away value for a review. And as Paul himself said - how do you EVER know a review is honest anyway? I gave money and my product and asked for a review. Will the person give an honest review? Who possibly could know? If someone sent you a scathing review of your product would you post that? I don't think I've ever seen one - lol.

I honestly think that all of us here (me included) should do our due diligence before making our findings so public. This thread is going to unnecessarily tarnish the reputations of a few people. I can understand wanting to warn fellow warriors of pending danger. But in this case, that giant ice-burgh may just turn out to be a big dollop of ice-cream.

And when you're actually selling from a website - not a WSO - Then it's a bit harder to give your product away for someone to review. So that's where the paid for review comes in handy. It helps to get the ball rolling, until you get other reviewers to join.

Does it shock you to know that people also sell fans for their facebook fan-pages? It's just another way to get the ball rolling. If the ball can't roll on it's own, it will stop fairly quickly anyway.

garyv: If you are selling product through a web site, you should build a list with a free report, or encourage those who buy the porudct to optin to your list. Then send review copies to your subscribers. I sent a broadcast and gave away revie copies to the first x number of them who responded. Why buy testimonial from random strangers rather than highly targeted users who are already interested in your product's niche? Anyway as long as you aren't getting fake testimonials it's fine. We are talking about people who are giving fake testimonials for products they have never even seen. I bet most of those fiverr trolls don't know squat about advanced IM and are in no position to review an IM product, they are just there to make a quick buck, that's the way it works.


goldmind123: You did the right thing by forcing your client to remove those videos. If his competition discovered it and made it public, they would probably lose a lot of business, not to mention ruining their reputation.

This is the funniest one of all:

LOL.

Anyone who would pay someone to write fake testimonials for them cannot be the brightest bulb in the pack.

Why not save that $5 and write them yourself?

Hehe.

I wonder how many 5 spots that dude is making on that one.

...

I prefer real testimonials from real people.
Testimonials from JV partners are just as awful as paid fiverr testimonials.

I am sick of the onslaught of all the greatest domination, snipers, dominators crushing, demolishers, How many products does a successful internet marketer really need. These newbies turned overnight guru guys are coming out of the wood work and they have these well known JV partners that are pushing these

products that they have not even tested or used. I have unsubscribed to every lists that duplicates a product launch email. It tells me a couple of things, that the list owner is just mailing for quick cash from my pocket book

They are not the least concerned that just 4 days before, they were hawking another similar product. These guys are going to shoot themselves in the foot being promotional who**s and using these 5 dollar pro to sell their stuff will cost them dearly in the END.

$5 is too much to pay for a testimonial. Why
not get some for FREE?

1. Create a winning product that does
what it says on the can.

2. Give it to a group of alpha testers
who will tell you how to make it even
better.

3. Improve it and send it out for
beta testing.

4. Read the positive feedback.

5. Ask if you can use the feedback
as a testimonial.

No deception required

Stephen

Gary, That wouldn't matter if I were the only one who did. There's too much activity of all kinds in this group for any one person to keep an eye on. We have a LOT of other moderators here watching out for this stuff. There are things I would never catch, because they're in fields I don't know well, that are caught all the time by moderators with more experience in those areas.

In addition, we've got members who regularly point us to the stuff that needs handling. Without those people keeping us informed, we'd be swamped trying to keep up with it all. As it is, we miss more than we'd like.

Keeping this place running is a team activity. Take away any part of the team, and things would go downhill, real fast.


Paul

People are willing to do whatever they can to make money. I don't say it's right but I do understand why they would do it. It just really sucks for honest poeple who are looking at a products that they might really think they could use until they get it then they find out it's garbage.

Lets take the following:

People on the internet lie to make money
Marketing people lie to make money
What do you think internet marketing people do?

Nobody who ever sold an **** berry "diet" product can accuse others of not having ethics. Any sales page that ever claimed that anyone could possibly lose weight with **** is fraudulent.

When big corporations run TV commercials, they make it clear that the person giving the testimonial is an actor and not an actual customer. If it's an actual customer they disclose that too. I think you need to disclose paid testimonials per FTC regs (like big blue chip corporate entities do in their TV commercials) one day FTC will start cracking down on those and a lot of people will find their assets frozen.

ADVERTISING MUST TELL THE TRUTH AND NOT MISLEAD CONSUMERS.

Honestly i am less likely to buy a product that has screenshots since they always make me more skeptical. There is a simple script that can change almost any page for screenshots in seconds and fake videos have been around forever.

EXPOSED : A lot of testimonial here.
One of the most famous website on Clickbank.
The Rich 16-Year-Old's New Millionaire System

Dang, I just realize it when I read the post here.
See all the video testimoni.

They all fake...........

Go to Fiverr, and find people to make video testimonial.
You'll see most of them are in the site too.....!

Shame IM.

From this one thread I predict that several fiverr video makers will be getting lots more business soon... While those against fake videos are commenting, there are others thinking to themselves, "great idea..."

I agree with you bro, its such a turn off when people do these things

Trust whoever has honest reviews on that imreport card site. I've found it's pretty legitimate overall. Never trust reviews on their pages.

Regardless of anything else, this thread has certainly helped me separate the wheat from the chaff, or the men from the boys, or those who understand ethics from those who do not.

Thanks to everybody for your input, for now I know where to put you on my preferred purchase list.

I agree with Dave. This is the real world and many people do dirty tactics to grab the attention of their prospect costumers.

I hate these kind of people who always wanted to steal people's hard earned money with fake reports as well as fake testimonials.

Good grief what a lot of hoopla for a simple comment exposing another way less than honorable marketers will try to make a buck.

I think it was a good "heads up" encouraging consumers to look a little closer at the "testimonials" rather than just jumping in taking them at face value.

Of course the best safety net is to check the warranty prior to purchase and use it if appropriate. *Don't start a firestorm on the "refunders" there are too many threads on that topic already*

You are all in luck!

I just so happen to offer a wide range of pet ant accessories. Ant leashes, ant food and water dishes, and hand-knit angora sweaters for the special ant in your family; to name a few.

~M~

Long before Fiverr came along, most of us have known that 90% of testimonials are "fake". The only ones that matter are those from people with a very strong reputation.

If you think the Fiverr gigs are scary, think about how many people provide exaggerated testimonials to either:
1) Ensure that theirs is used, which gives their face/name/link some exposure,
2) Trade for a fabricated testimonial in return.

Here's another clever idea some guys are using:
Host a testimonial contest. If you are serious about your site, offer up $100 for the best testimonial, and a few bucks for the runners up. I've seen guys pull in as many as 100 testimonials using this. And as you can imagine, people want to win that money, so they make your product sound like it's the greatest thing since autoresponders.

You know what's funny though? Fake or not, they work.

It's amazing to know how there is people out there who buy their way into the world. It's fine if you hire people to perform tasks for you. But not testimonials that are not real. That's just cheating people out of their money.

Who is more at fault?

The crooked product sellers who have no problem using such underhanded methods?

The hungry "testimonial" providers who are only trying to cater to a certain market?

All the best,
Michael
Yes, I worded the two questions VERY specifically to see if it would skew the replies.
p.s. Does it matter?

Testimonaials are bottom of the barrel in advertising world - regarded as the least creative means of convincing possible punters. However, when done for real, they can be convincing and legitimately so. But of course they have always and always will be open to abuse. I think product owners should at least give us some credit for spotting the phonies - they usually stick out a mile!

GOOD POINT!

In soccer its known as a "boot deal"

however a five dollar testamonial is worth what you paid for it....

These people that are paying for the fake testimonials are ruining their business by ruining their credibility when these customers realize the testimonials are invalid.

Well, this was funny until I found this

Pet Ants

People are really petting ants

I have to admit that when this post first came up, I found myself really bothered by it. But now that I've had some time to give it some thought, if anything, it doesn't really change the fact that anybody could have had thrown a video up for FREE at any time by just having someone close to them do the video--or just do it themselves if they were using a fake pic for their profile.

And I honestly believe video testimonials add enough power to a squeeze page that a good marketer could probably pay 20X that and make it still worthwhile, so the significance of how cheap it is now doesn't bother me so much either. Someone who can't pay more than $5 for a fake testimonial is probably going to need a few more tricks than just that up their sleeve to make a sale.

So I guess buyers are in no more danger than they were before--that said, I'm certainly more aware now, which was what Gene wanted to accomplish by starting this thread, so thanks Gene.

Anyways, I went and spent some time over at Fiverr because it keeps coming up here and I hadn't even been there yet, and it is really a mind-blowing website IMHO. I think it's a very interesting product of social media, and I find it fascinating just for the social observation as well as looking at it from a mind that is interested in marketing.

As for statements I've seen on here about people selling their souls for $5--I think that was a bit dramatic now that I've had a look around. There are definitely people doing some things that are questionable, but I found those were exceptions. And I'd say a good portion of those offering fake testimonials haven't put a whole lot of thought into the implications of what it is they are doing and how unethical it really is. I wish they would, but there are a lot of things people do that I wish they would put more thought into...

The examples Gene mentioned in the OP were pretty blatant though.

And actually, the site does spark some money-making ideas--very few of which have anything to do with selling anything for $5, by the way. I'll keep those to myself for now.

And no--I won't be purchasing any fake testimonials in my lifetime.

cheers

I haven't read every post here but thought I'd throw in my 2 cents worth, anyway. I have a friend here in St. Louis who is an actor and did a commercial for a hair growth/replacement company. I've known him for years and he has a thick head of hair. I asked him if he ever had a hair thinning problem. And he said no. That seemed totally unethical to me--both for him and the company. I questioned that kind of marketing. He said he had no problem with it because he's just an actor. Unfortunately, there was no disclaimer on the tv ad as a paid re-enactment, etc. So, the problem isn't just in IM.

That's one of the reasons I haven't done much affiliate marketing. I can't recommend something that I haven't tried and been successful with myself.

Btw Gene, I can hardly wait for you to have affiliates for your Easy Domain Cash system. It's the best program I've ever tried.

Thanks Candy, and just to be clear, a person does not necessarily have to be a user of a product to recommend it, if it is a sincere recommendation. It's when the primary motivation is to make a few bucks to "create" a recommendation out of thin air that burns me. I have no problem with an actor getting paid to represent an actual customer, if that fact is made clear, and if there is a real customer that the actor is representing.

This is going to happen, it is a quick fix for scammers to get good testimonials instead of having to prove their product works.

Regards
Owen

Fake testimonials LOL that funny for five dollars, Just offer a review copy of your product or service and then you will receive an honest testimonials if the product rocks...

This is just the continuation of a trend that was started with television infomercials, which then progressed to websites and sales pages. The difference is that the recent developments in Fiverr have made it even easier for people to buy fake testimonials now that these providers are openly offering them - the barriers to entry have been reduced considerably, and now you can buy fake testimonials from the comfort of your home computer...this is a disgusting trend that will lower the value of even genuine testimonials, but unfortunately this is not something that can be easily stopped.

I don't listen to testimonials. I consider myself to be intelligent enough to see through the BS

I "think" I saw a manufactured video testimonial the other day. The chick in the video was testifying to how life changing a system has been to her but she never once said the name of the system in the video. I knew the name of it though but she never said it. The video is so generic that it could be use for anything labeled as a system. I may be wrong and the testimonial could've been real. She talked for like seven minutes about how her life has change but the only name she gave the system was "this system".

Maybe people will start believing in their own possibilities instead of wanting so much proof for everything as if that means our progress will be the same. And maybe people will be real about their business and stop misleading others. It is what it is and the fake stuff is out there just as well as the truth. Be the truth and the lies won't faze us so much.

This reminds me of what I see on tv late in the day. It is just a mater if wether or not you can see past the acting and tell if there is any value for you to take from it.

Just my 0.02

People in TV commercials recommend products all the time and claim they found it amazing. I bet not all of them have used/own the product..

Recently discovered someone in the WSO section using fake (paid for) video testimonials...
It makes me cringe.

This has always bothered me. I had a client ask me to write testimonials once and I declined that part of the project. Thankfully we had a good enough relationship she was able to move that part to someone else because she understood my (ethical) reasoning for not wanting to do it.

I have trouble even considering putting testimonials on my own sites because I'm afraid people will think they're fake!