The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday edition that fake reviews have been around as long as consumers have turned to on-line platforms such as Amazon and Google for help deciding what to buy or where to eat. The Globe's Mariya Postelnyak writes that over the past few years, however, they've grown from a minor irritant into a force capable of distorting competition and exposing consumers to serious harm, according to a new report from the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project, a think tank. With black market operators offering to boost a company's on-line ratings or smear competitors' reputations for a price, fabricating reviews has morphed into a thriving business of its own. It's a problem that plagues not just retailers, restaurants and home repair businesses, but also professional services such as health care clinics and law firms. And yet, on-line review platforms often have few incentives to stamp out bogus reviews. The report calls on regulators to step in with legislation that would compel platforms to provide public warnings to consumers when a business is using fake reviews, create a system to share information on bad actors, and report regulated professionals such as doctors and lawyers who use fake reviews.