WeTab boss Helmut Hoffer caught posting five-star Amazon reviews under fake name, resigns
Uh oh. WeTab’s Managing Director, Helmut Hoffer, has just resigned his position after being caught using a fake identity to post positive, five-star reviews for his little MeeGo tablet. Hoffer, who originally faked the WeTab’s (then known as the WePad) UI when introducing the tablet to the press, posted a review on Amazon’s German site under the name Peter Glaser, a popular member of the Chaos Computer Club. A second glowing review was posted under the name Claudia Kaden — an account apparently registered to Hoffer’s wife. Of course, now that he’s been outed, Hoffer admits that it was a mistake not using his own name and says he posted the reviews without the knowledge of the company. Naturally, this isn’t the first case of egregious astroturfing that we’ve seen — eh hem, Belkin — and it certainly won’t be the last. This guy’s just the latest to get caught. Gallery: WeTab boss Helmut Hoffer caught posting five-star Amazon reviews under fake name, resigns WeTab boss Helmut Hoffer caught posting five-star Amazon reviews under fake name, resigns originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 04:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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on October 5, 2010. Filed under