In the grand ball of companies and internets and dollars and schemes, Yelp generally looks pretty well dressed. Shoes that fit, but aren’t fresh from the box. A distinctive tie that isn’t distracting. We want to like Yelp and we DO. Because Yelp is like us. Yelp is like a friend.

And while sometimes friends are good for turning you onto the best bao you’ve ever had, or telling you which veterinarians to avoid, OTHER TIMES they are digging into all the publicly available data on that new guy you’re into. They looking for red flags and have your back so much you don’t even know it.

That’s what we’re talking about today, a few more of Yelp’s Alerts.

Compensated Activity Alerts

Here’s what Yelp has to say:

Yelp places these alerts on business pages when we catch someone offering payment in the form of cash, discounts, gift certificates or other incentives in exchange for writing, changing, preventing or removing reviews. See below for the businesses that have previously received this alert on their page, along with a link to view the evidence for each alert.

Look, compensated reviews are a thing. There’s a whole series on this blog about compensated reviews, about what writing a review can get you: coupons, discounts, sometimes free stuff.

It’s one thing to ask for and reward a review after a purchase has been made, but soliciting reviews in exchange for freebies? That gets a bit seedier. And that’s more of what we have here.

Yelp lets you see the evidence that users sent them, which led to alerts being placed on businesses. Here’s just a few examples:

See, that’s almost standard operating procedure for every business these days.

THIS is a little more ick. But maybe that’s just because they’re giving discounts on colonics.

A COLD EMAIL sent to Yelp Elites! That’s pretty darn bold. And eager. And kinda sad.

Look, running a business is hard. But Yelp has its rules for a reason. If the integrity of reviews comes too much into question, then the whole exercise falls to pieces.

Suspicious Review Activity Alerts

Again, from Yelp:

Yelp places these alerts on business pages when our systems detect a large number of positive reviews coming from a single IP address, or reviews from users who may be connected to a group that coordinates incentivized reviews. While our recommendation software takes this type of suspicious activity into account when recommending reviews, we may also issue this Consumer Alert to warn people of egregious attempts to mislead them. See below for the businesses that have previously received this alert on their page.

Obviously, Yelp isn’t going to be sharing the evidence (the IP addresses) on this issue, but it’s not a complicated procedure. Just like any visitor to Review Party Dot Com, with every click, we know WHERE YOU ARE!

But to take your clicks elsewhere, here’s the big list of bad-doers on Yelp, check it out for yourself.