WeRecoverData's Online Reviews Examined By

Описание:    / @fakereviewwatch  

Timestamps:
00:00 intro
09:04 story begins

Kay Dean runs Fake Review Watch. She has spent years documenting businesses that trade, buy, & fake reviews, & her work has been covered by the New York Times, TIME, SFGate, NBC Bay Area, & Reveal. The New York Attorney General's office thanked her by name in October 2023 for helping an investigation into a practice posting fake reviews.

She sent me screenshots she captured in 2019 & 2020. In this video she walks me through them. The findings & the conclusions are hers. I am showing you her records & letting her explain what she concluded from them.

What her screenshots show, with the dates printed on them:

An account bearing the name Joshua Gulmatico posting in a Facebook group called "Exchange Google & Facebook Review": "Need google/yelp review. Exchange only. I have strong profile on both platform." Kay Dean dates that activity to 2019.

A Yelp reviewer profile for "Joshua 'Waen' G." of Austin, Texas, tagline "The Web Marketer."

A Google Local Guide account bearing the name Joshua Gulmatico, with a 5-star review of WeRecoverData's Novi, Michigan listing stamped "a year ago" at capture & no review text, sitting among 5-star reviews of unrelated businesses on several continents.

A 5-star Yelp review of "WeRecoverData.com Data Recovery Labs - New York" dated September 10, 2019, & a 5-star Google review with word-for-word identical text that thanks WeRecoverData by name, posted on a listing carrying a different business name at a different address.

Yelp's own consumer-alert history page for WeRecoverData's New York listing, showing a "Suspicious Activity" alert running February 3, 2020 to May 3, 2020, status Inactive. Yelp's explainer on that page describes a consumer alert as a warning placed on a business page when Yelp has "detected abnormal activity or attempts to mislead" users.

A LinkedIn profile captured in July 2026, headline "IT Consultant at WeRecoverData.com," using the same profile photo as the Yelp account, showing no employment dates.

Kay Dean's conclusion, in her words: "Back in 2019, I documented a representative working on behalf of We Recover Data actively trading numerous Yelp & Google reviews with other businesses across the country in Facebook groups." She names him, & says that according to LinkedIn he still works there. She flags her account-to-person links as her own: "I concluded," "It's my opinion."

These are the limits stated. Nothing here shows that WeRecoverData directed, paid for, or knew about any review exchange. Nothing here dates the LinkedIn affiliation; that capture is from July 2026 & carries no start date. Whether the same-named accounts belong to one person is Kay Dean's inference from the identical review text. These are captures from 2019 & 2020, & the reviews, accounts, & groups may since have been removed or closed.

Separately: the FTC's rule on consumer reviews, 16 CFR Part 465, took effect October 21, 2024 & bans trading, buying, & selling reviews. It is not retroactive, it does not reach conduct from 2019, & nothing in this video says anyone violated it.

If Mr. Gulmatico, WeRecoverData, or anyone else points to a specific inaccuracy with evidence, tell me what it is & I will correct it.

Kay Dean's work: https://fakereviewwatch.com