Open Source Scrutiny
Consumer-facing investigations

We check what a product claims about itself.

Evidence-first reports on products whose marketing misrepresents what they do — public surfaces only, every claim hashed, every subject given the right of reply.

Most of what makes a product look trustworthy is something the buyer can't check. A testimonial, an award, a five-star rating, a countdown timer. Each is a trust signal, and each can be manufactured — usually by the same operator the signal is meant to vouch for.

This is a record of that pattern, case by case, with the evidence attached.

What we're for

Our mission is to provide consumer insight into practices that exploit social engineering, social media and gaps in technical literacy. Three aims:

We also welcome any product for review, and we would rather publish a positive report than a harmful one.

Cases

Gulf Coast Brands LLC — a portfolio that manufactures its own trust Published
An Oldsmar, Florida company that sells SEO software, runs a press-distribution service and publishes a news outlet — and is linked to the directory that awards its product. A testimonial persona using a third party's photograph; an award from a directory registered two weeks before issuing it and issued only once, ever; a 5.0 rating on six seller-hosted reviews; four deadlines on a price that never changed; and four "real results" of which three did not reproduce. Recon complete; the product test follows.

How we work

Every case runs in two stages, and we say which one you're reading.

Our rules

Public surfaces only — no hacking, no breached data, no leaked documents. Every claim carries a timestamped capture and a SHA-256 hash, and the unaltered originals are kept. Every subject is asked for a statement before publication, and any reply is published verbatim. Corrections are issued as new editions, never silent edits.

Pending work

Cases in preparation are held until they are ready, and are shown to journalists under a short embargo before publication. They are not listed here. If you are a journalist working in consumer protection or platform integrity and would like early sight of a case, get in touch.

Contact

Corrections, right-of-reply requests, and press enquiries are welcome and will be answered. We would rather be corrected than be wrong.

[CONTACT ADDRESS — to be set with the domain]