SEO Manipulation and Fake Review Farms
When a company has a high volume of unhappy customers, how do they maintain a 5-star rating? Through aggressive SEO manipulation and fake review farms.
The "Dummy Website" Tactic
Recently, consumers have noticed a flood of highly suspicious activities designed to bury legitimate complaints. When search terms like "Lunar Astro Scam" began trending, the company's affiliates allegedly created dummy websites (like Google Sites and random directory listings such as Tegara).
These sites feature keyword-stuffed articles titled "Is Lunar Astro a Scam? What We Found May Surprise You." These articles are purely promotional, designed to hijack search engine results and push real consumer complaints off the first page of Google.
Coordinated Review Padding
Users have tracked instances where multiple 5-star reviews are posted on platforms like MouthShut at the exact same time, using similar language, to artificially inflate the company's rating and drown out detailed 1-star warnings.
Hostile Customer Service
On platforms like Trustpilot, when real users leave 1-star reviews detailing their negative experiences, the official company responses are often aggressive. They frequently accuse the customer of having "fake IDs," "bad intentions," or threaten them with "Cyber Cell tracking" to force them to delete the review.