Fake Reviews on Your Electrician Website: What the Law Now Says and What to Do About It

From 6 April 2025, fake reviews became illegal under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCC Act). If you run an electrician website that displays customer reviews or testimonials, this law applies to you. Not just to big platforms. Not just to Amazon or Trustpilot. To you.

This article explains what changed, what it means in plain English, and what you should actually do to protect your business and make your reviews work harder for you.

What the DMCC Act says about fake reviews

The DMCC Act introduced a set of enforceable rules around fake and misleading reviews. The key points that affect electricians and local service businesses are:

Fake reviews are banned. Commissioning them, publishing them, or allowing them to appear on your website without taking reasonable steps to remove them is now unlawful.

Website hosts are accountable. The law is clear that the responsibility sits with whoever publishes the reviews, not just whoever wrote them. If reviews appear on your website, you are responsible for them.

Businesses must take active steps. You cannot simply say you did not know a review was fake. You are expected to have basic procedures in place to detect and remove fake reviews.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is responsible for enforcement. The CMA has the power to investigate businesses, issue fines, and take legal action. Civil penalties under the DMCC Act can reach up to 10% of global annual turnover for businesses found in breach.

Why this matters more than you might think

A lot of electricians we speak to think this law is aimed at big companies that buy reviews in bulk. And while that is partly true, the accountability for what appears on your own website is squarely on your shoulders regardless of your size.

If a previous customer left you a glowing review that was actually written by their partner on a different device, that could be considered fake. If you ever asked a friend to post something positive to give your profile a boost when you were starting out, that falls under this legislation. The law does not make allowances for good intentions.

More importantly, fake reviews damage trust. Consumers are increasingly good at spotting them, and Google is getting better at identifying patterns that suggest review manipulation. A website full of suspiciously similar five-star reviews, all posted in the same week, is not going to convert well even if it never attracts a formal investigation.

Genuine reviews, properly collected and displayed, do the opposite. They build trust, improve your conversion rate, and help more potential customers pick up the phone or fill in your contact form.

What counts as a fake review?

It is worth being clear on this because the grey areas are where most small businesses get caught out.

A fake review is broadly any review that does not reflect a genuine, independent experience of your services. That includes:

Reviews written by you, a family member, a friend, or an employee. Reviews purchased through a third-party service. Reviews left by customers who were offered a discount, freebie, or incentive in exchange for a positive write-up (incentivised reviews). Reviews posted by someone who did not actually use your services. Negative reviews posted about a competitor by you or anyone acting on your behalf.

What is not a fake review is simply asking a happy customer to share their experience. Requesting reviews is completely legitimate. The key word is genuine.

What you need to do now

You do not need a lawyer or a compliance team to get this right. You need a simple, documented approach that shows you are taking reasonable steps. Here is what that looks like in practice.

Audit what you already have. Go through the reviews currently displayed on your website. If any raise a red flag, remove them. It is better to have fewer reviews than to carry the legal and reputational risk of displaying ones you cannot stand behind.

Stop any incentivised review practices. If you have been offering anything in exchange for reviews, stop now. A genuine thank you is fine. A discount on the next job is not.

Set up a simple review request process. After every completed job, follow up with the customer and ask them to leave an honest review. A short message, a direct link to your Google profile or review widget, and a polite ask is all it takes. Most satisfied customers are happy to help if you make it easy.

Document your process. Write down who is responsible for checking reviews, how often you check, and what you do if a suspicious review appears. This does not need to be a lengthy document. A single page is enough. The point is that you can demonstrate you have taken steps if it ever comes up.

Check your third-party listings too. If your business appears on directories or platforms that display reviews, check those as well. While the primary accountability sits with the platform itself for third-party listings, it is good practice to flag and report anything that looks suspicious.

How a proper review strategy drives more leads

This is where the practical upside sits. Compliance is the floor, not the ceiling.

Electricians who consistently collect and display genuine reviews see real commercial benefits. A website that shows a steady stream of authentic customer experiences, with specific details about the job, the location, and the outcome, builds the kind of trust that turns visitors into enquiries.

Think about what a potential customer sees when they land on your website. They do not know you yet. They are comparing you against two or three other electricians. What tips the balance is confidence, and reviews are one of the most powerful confidence builders you have.

The businesses that do this well are not just protecting themselves from the law. They are actively using their reputation as a lead generation tool. Every genuine five-star review with a customer name, a location, and a specific job type is a piece of content that helps new customers see themselves in that situation and trust you to help them.

If your website has a proper review display, a clear process for collecting new reviews after each job, and a review policy you can point to, you are in a stronger position than the vast majority of your competitors on both counts.

A quick checklist

Before you move on, run through these:

• Reviews on your website are genuine and from real customers
• You have removed any reviews you cannot fully stand behind
• You have stopped any incentivised review practices
• You have a simple process for asking happy customers to leave a review
• You have documented who checks reviews and how often
• You know where else your business is listed and have checked those too

The bottom line

The fake reviews law is not something to panic about if you have been running your business with integrity. But it is worth taking seriously, both to avoid any compliance risk and to use it as a prompt to build a review strategy that actually works for your business.

Reviews done properly are one of the highest-converting trust signals on your website. They cost nothing except a follow-up message and a straightforward ask. And in a competitive local market, the electrician with 47 genuine, detailed reviews is going to win more jobs than the one with 12 vague ones and a disclaimer in the footer.

If you want to see how a Frively website handles reviews as part of a broader lead generation framework, book a call with us. We will show you exactly how it works.