When searching for a place to live — or a person to live with — honest and trustworthy information is vital. And reviews about platforms that can supposedly help you in your search should be, well, honest and trustworthy too. But according to the FTC and six states suing Roomster and its owners, the room and roommate finder platform posted reviews and other information that was neither.
The lawsuit announced today alleges Roomster posted fake positive reviews and made deceptive claims about its listings being real, available, and verified — to convince people to use its platform. The FTC and states also announced an action against “AppWinn” operator Jonathan Martinez, who the complaint alleges supplied thousands of the fake reviews to Roomster.