> Why is taxpayer money going into propping up yelp's reputation?
It isn't. It's going into catching people violating various criminal laws against fraud. That stopping such people happens to help Yelp is a side-effect.
Because fraud means to be deceptive towards someone else for personal gain.
I guess you could argue like a racketeering effect-- who is guilty of murder, the man who pulls the trigger or the mafia boss who orders the hit? (Spoiler: both).
In fact, I'd love to see a State Attorney General use RICO to target not just a group of reviewers who are defrauding businesses, but the entire supply chain by which they get their targets and get paid for their illegal behavior.
fraud has a very specific, nine-point definition that may be more specific than what you believe it to be, for good reason too, because you don't want people going around crying "fraud, fraud, fraud" at the bat of an eyelash.
And to use RICO to go after them is really goddamn scary. RICO act specifically incurred to run-arounds on due process that were designed to go after organized crime. the expansion of that to terrorists essentially constituted the more worrisome aspects of the PATRIOT act.
Yes, and that could lead to a charge of conspiracy. The reviewers carried out the fraudulent acts. In what world do you think being paid to do something absolves you of all responsibility for your actions?
It isn't. It's going into catching people violating various criminal laws against fraud. That stopping such people happens to help Yelp is a side-effect.