CFA Consumer Centre
Share genuine experiences, help businesses improve and give other consumers the clear information they need to make more confident decisions.
Why these guidelines matter
Consumer Fraud Awareness (“CFA”) publishes reviews to help consumers understand how businesses, products and services perform in real situations. These Guidelines explain what makes a review useful, what CFA may verify, and when a review may be labelled, restricted or removed.
Important: Publication on CFA does not mean that CFA endorses every opinion or independently proves every statement. Reviewers remain responsible for the accuracy and lawfulness of what they submit.
Be genuine
Write about a real interaction that you personally experienced..
Be specific
Explain what happened, when it occurred and what outcome followed.
Be fair
Do not expose personal, confidential or security-sensitive information.
Be respectful
Criticise conduct or service, not a person’s identity or dignity.
A useful review
The most helpful reviews give readers enough context to understand the experience without exposing unnecessary personal information.
First-hand experience
Write about a purchase, enquiry, consultation, application, delivery, refund or support interaction you personally had.
Clear timeline
Include an approximate date or sequence of events so readers can understand what occurred.
Relevant details
Mention the product, service, branch or issue that directly relates to your experience.
Balanced outcome
Explain what the business did well, what went wrong and whether it attempted a resolution.
Writing your review
We encourage you to
Please do not
Practical examples
The examples below use fictional businesses and demo details only.
Specific, balanced and first-hand
“I ordered a dining table from Demo Home Furnishings on 8 May. Delivery was promised within 10 days but arrived after 18 days. The support team replied within one day and refunded the delivery charge. The delay was inconvenient, but the final resolution was fair.”
Why it works: It includes a timeline, the actual issue, the business response and the final outcome.
Too vague to help readers
"This company is useless and nobody should ever speak to them."
How to improve: Add the service used, what went wrong, when it occurred and whether the business was contacted.
Threatening and unsupported
“They are all criminals. Pay me today or I will keep posting everywhere and share the owner’s home address.”
Why it is prohibited: It contains threats, private information and unsupported criminal accusations.
Eligibility
A reviewer should have a genuine and relevant connection to the experience being described.
Customers and service users
People who purchased, enquired about, used or attempted to use a product or service.
Authorised representatives
A parent, guardian or formally authorised person may submit where they clearly explain the relationship.
Prospective customers
A genuine enquiry, quotation, consultation or sales interaction may be reviewed even where no purchase was completed.
Disclosure required Employees, former employees, competitors, agents, suppliers, affiliates and close relatives must disclose their relationship. CFA may label the review or exclude it from consumer-rating calculations.
Trust and verification
CFA may request evidence when a review is reported, contains serious factual claims, appears unusual or is selected for routine authenticity checks.
Transaction records
Invoices, receipts, order confirmations, payment acknowledgements or booking records.
Communication records
Relevant emails, support tickets, call records or chat excerpts connected to the experience.
Service records
Contracts, quotations, cancellation notices, refund messages, delivery records or work reports.
Evidence is normally confidential. CFA may use submitted material for verification and moderation without publicly displaying the full document. CFA may request redaction or redact information where reasonably necess
Submitted
The reviewer completes the review form.
Automated checks
Systems assess spam, duplication and unusual activity.
Moderation
Content may be reviewed against CFA policies.
Verification
Supporting information may be requested.
Published or actioned
The review is published, labelled, restricted or removed.
Content restrictions
Reviews may be rejected or removed where they create safety, legal, privacy or integrity risks.
| Category | Examples | Typical action |
|---|---|---|
| Fabricated content | Invented experiences, fake receipts, synthetic screenshots, false identities or reviews written for a business without genuine interaction. | Removal and possible account restriction. |
| Threats or harassment | Violence, intimidation, repeated targeting, abusive personal attacks, blackmail or demands tied to deleting or publishing content. | Immediate restriction or removal. |
| Hate or exploitation | Attacks based on protected characteristics, sexual exploitation, intimate material or content involving minors. | Immediate removal; escalation where appropriate. |
| Unsupported allegations | Presenting fraud, theft or other serious wrongdoing as proven fact without explaining the supporting events or basis. | Request for revision, evidence or contextual wording. |
| Irrelevant content | Political commentary, unrelated disputes, employment grievances on a consumer page or content about a different company. | Restriction, redirection or removal. |
| Manipulation | Duplicate reviews, coordinated campaigns, review swapping, paid ratings, bot submissions or repeated reposting. | Removal and rating adjustment. |
| Promotional content | Referral links, advertisements, lead generation, competing offers or unrelated self-promotion. | Edit request or removal. |
| Unlawful content | Material prohibited by law, valid court order or binding regulatory direction. | Restriction, preservation or disclosure as legally required. |
Safety and privacy
Information that may be relevant
Information you must protect
Never upload sensitive credentials CFA may redact, restrict or delete any material that creates a privacy, identity-theft, security or safety risk. Reviewers should keep their original records.
Transparency
A review must reflect the reviewer’s genuine opinion even when the business invited the review.
Platform integrity
Moderation may involve automated systems, manual review, supporting evidence and information provided by the reviewer or business.
| Possible outcome | What it means |
|---|---|
| Published | The review meets applicable requirements and is visible on the Platform. |
| Verified experience | CFA received information reasonably supporting that an interaction or transaction occurred. This is not a legal finding that every statement is proven. |
| Under review | The review is temporarily being assessed or additional information has been requested. |
| Edited or redacted | Limited changes were made or requested to address privacy, relevance, formatting or policy concerns without changing the reviewer’s central experience. |
| Rating excluded | The review may remain visible for context but is excluded from the overall consumer rating due to a disclosed relationship or another integrity concern. |
| Restricted or removed | The review breaches policy, cannot be reasonably verified when verification is required, creates a legal or safety risk, or appears manipulated. |
Fair disagreement is not a removal reason: A business’s denial or dissatisfaction does not automatically make a review invalid. CFA considers the content, context, available information and applicable policies..
Constructive dialogue
Businesses may respond publicly, request additional information through appropriate channels and report reviews that may breach policy.
Acknowledge
Recognise the consumer’s concern without dismissive or hostile language.
Clarify
Provide relevant facts and explain the company’s records or policy professionally.
Resolve
Offer a reasonable next step, support channel or resolution where appropriate.
Protect privacy
Do not publish private customer details, internal identifiers or confidential records.
No forced removal: Businesses must not condition refunds, support or contractual rights on deleting a truthful review. Reviewers should disclose when a resolution or benefit was provided in connection with an update.
Keeping reviews current
Reviewers may generally edit or update their review through their account, subject to platform functionality and ongoing moderation. CFA encourages updates where:
Important: Publication on CFA does not mean that CFA endorses every opinion or independently proves every statement. Reviewers remain responsible for the accuracy and lawfulness of what they submit.
Reports and reconsideration
Consumers and businesses may report content that appears to breach CFA policies. Reports should identify the specific concern and include relevant supporting information.
Submit report
Identify the review and the applicable concern.
Initial assessment
CFA checks whether the report raises a policy issue
Information request
The reviewer or business may be asked for clarification.
Decision
CFA may retain, label, edit, restrict or remove content.
Appeal
An eligible party may request reconsideration with new context.
Legal complaints: A legal notice should clearly identify the content, legal basis, jurisdiction, authority of the sender and requested action. CFA may seek additional information and is not required to remove content merely because a legal allegation is asserted.
Common questions
Ready to share your experience?
An honest, specific and respectful review can help other consumers make better decisions and give businesses an opportunity to improve.
