According to Alex Hamerstone, a cybercrime expert from TrustedSec, sellers do this to boost their ratings. They make a fake account using a real name and address they can easily find online. The seller buys the product from themselves and sends it to the address.
“In order for you to have a validated purchase so that your rating carries more weight, they actually have to ship something,” said Hamerstone. The seller then writes a fake review and gives themselves five stars.
So why would someone go to so much trouble for a five-star review? It means more money for them. “We’re bombarded with choices,” said Hamerstone. “If you pick any standard product when you search on one of these large sites you might get 2,000 of them, and so the seller really wants to rise to the top.” So the more packages the seller sends, the more glowing reviews they can make up, and the more popular they appear in searches.