Fake Doctor Reviews Look More Trustworthy Than Real Ones, Study Finds

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 9, 2026 (HealthDay News) — People may need to be as wary of fake reviews when they’re shopping for a new doctor as they would be scrolling on Amazon, a new study says.

Fake reviews not only show up in some online doctor review platforms, but are often seen as more trustworthy and helpful than genuine reviews, researchers reported recently in the journal Internet Research.

These fake reviews can seem more credible because they contain richer details regarding personal health than real patients would feel comfortable sharing online, researchers said.

The detailed narratives exploit a gap between what folks want to read in a review versus what they’re willing to share themselves, the team concluded.

“A real patient might simply say a doctor was helpful, while a fake review tells a detailed story about symptoms, diagnosis and treatment,” said lead researcher Aishwarya Deep Shukla in a news release.

“People are drawn to stories,” said Shukla, an associate professor of business at Simon Fraser University in Canada. “Unfortunately, these deceptive reviews have the kind of information real patients don’t usually share publicly and can influence decisions about who people trust with their care.”

For the study, researchers analyzed 35,000 online reviews in India between 2015 and 2017, spanning specialties from family medicine to dentistry to dermatology.

Of those reviews, more than 8,300 were fake, researchers discovered.

Healthcare providers and clinic staff had exploited a security flaw in an online platform that invited patients to leave reviews after their appointments, researchers said. They impersonated patients and left positive reviews.

The research team discovered this flaw and reported it to the platform, which found and verified the fake reviews.

Researchers then analyzed a representative sample of 5,000 real and fake reviews, to see how they stacked up against each other.

The fake reviews were longer than genuine reviews, and provided more detail about symptoms, diagnoses, medication and treatment, researchers found. 

Worse, the fake reviews received more helpful votes online and scored higher on a scale of perceived trustworthiness than genuine reviews.

AI likely is making the problem worse by making it easier for fraudster medical professionals to craft and post fake reviews, Shukla said.

“When I look at reviews now, I see the same patterns of length and detail,” Shukla said. “The double-edged sword of AI is that it’s helping real people write more complete and useful reviews, but it’s also helping bad actors produce detailed fake reviews at scale."

Until systems are strengthened to cut down on fake reviews, Shukla suggests that people looking for a new doc should:

• Read all the reviews, and look for consistent themes rather than focusing on standout stories.

• Be cautious of reviews that reveal detailed medical information that most folks wouldn’t want to share.

• Don’t dismiss outright any doctors with few or no reviews, as most satisfied patients don’t leave a review.

• Consider other sources of information — professional credentials, personal recommendations and direct interactions — alongside what you’ve heard from reviews.

Researchers noted that the findings may not be generalizable to other sectors and different types of online reviews. 

More information

The National Institute on Aging has more about finding a new doctor.

SOURCE: Simon Fraser University, news release, Sept. 3, 2026