Kay Dean's WeRecoverData Findings
In July 2026, Kay Dean, a former federal investigator whose review-fraud work has been credited by the New York Attorney General, provided us with captures from 2019 and 2020 concerning review-exchange activity and WeRecoverData listings. This page publishes her records, her conclusions in her own words, and a plain statement of what the records do and do not show, including that they do not establish that WeRecoverData directed, solicited, paid for, or knew about any review exchange.
Has WeRecoverData responded to this page?
WeRecoverData's counsel sent us a demand letter dated June 19, 2026. It asked us to remove the page titled "Is WeRecoverData Safe?" and to stop republishing what it called false or misleading factual statements about WeRecoverData's services, pricing, locations, and business practices. We declined on June 26, 2026, asked WeRecoverData to identify any specific statement it contends is false, and committed to correcting anything WeRecoverData shows to be false. That commitment stands. If anyone, WeRecoverData included, identifies a specific inaccuracy on this page, we will correct it.
On July 24, 2026, WeRecoverData's counsel replied. That letter states WeRecoverData is "not presently pursuing litigation against [us] concerning the publications at issue" and is "not asking you to remove the webpage or videos". It also retracted a statement WeRecoverData had published about us, writing that the statement "was incorrect as written, and WRD corrects and retracts it." As of July 26, 2026, the June 19 demands had not been withdrawn in writing, and no complaint had been filed in any court. Louis Rossmann's July 26, 2026 response asks WeRecoverData to state in writing, by August 14, 2026, whether it withdraws them.
Every letter in the exchange, both sides, is published in full at: WeRecoverData's advertised US locations
That page is one Louis Rossmann maintains in his userspace on consumerrights.wiki. The wiki gave him the space to write it; it did not write, review, or endorse it. The page keeps a public revision history, so you can see what changed and when.
One thing worth stating plainly: Rossmann Repair Group is a data recovery company, which makes us a competitor of WeRecoverData. That is a reason to check the sources rather than take our word for anything. The documents are all at the link above, WeRecoverData's side included.
Who Kay Dean Is
Kay Dean is a former federal investigator and the founder of Fake Review Watch, where she documents review manipulation on Google, Yelp, and Facebook.
The New York Attorney General's October 30, 2023 press release, announcing a $100,000 settlement over manipulated online reviews, states:
“Attorney General James would like to thank Kay Dean of Fake Review Watch for assisting with this investigation.”
Her investigations have been covered by Time, SFGate, NBC Bay Area, The New York Times, and France 24. Her investigation of review trading in Facebook groups was covered by the Center for Investigative Reporting's Reveal program.
How This Material Reached Us
Kay Dean contacted Louis Rossmann in July 2026 and provided a folder of captures from her investigation, with her account of what they show. The screenshots below are published as she provided them, with two disclosed exceptions: the LinkedIn capture, which we made in July 2026 from a profile URL she supplied, and our redactions, which are marked in each affected caption. We redacted face photos, contact information, and the name and address of a Los Angeles recording studio; the studio and its owner are not subjects of this story.
Kay Dean's Records Concerning WeRecoverData, Dated As Displayed
Each record carries its own date, as printed on the capture or as displayed at capture. Our text states only what is visible on each image; Kay Dean's conclusions about how the records relate appear separately below.
September 16 to October 1, no year shown: review-exchange posts on Facebook
In the public Facebook group “Exchange Google and Facebook Review,” an account bearing the name Joshua Gulmatico posted at least five solicitations; a fifth post header is cut off at the bottom of the capture. The four visible posts, dates as displayed:
- October 1, 12:56 AM: “Need google/yelp review. Exchange only. I have strong profile on both platform.”
- September 22, 7:40 AM: “I need google review exchange. Please hit me up! I'm online 24 hours.”
- September 20, 3:21 PM: “Let's exchange google/yelp right now! Just comment here, so I can notice you.”
- September 16, 5:13 AM: “Google/Yelp review exchange? US/Canada names/location only. Hit me up right now!”
No year is printed on the capture; Kay Dean dates the posts to 2019.
Yelp and Google reviewer profiles, dated to 2019 by Dean
A Yelp profile shows “Joshua ‘Waen’ G.” of Austin, TX, tagline “The Web Marketer.” Its photo is the same photo that appears on the 9/10/2019 Yelp review below and on the July 2026 LinkedIn capture below. A Google Maps contributor page shows a Local Guide account named Joshua Gulmatico with 5-star reviews of businesses across several continents, including “WeRecoverData Data Recovery Inc. - Novi” in Novi, Michigan, displayed as “a year ago” at capture, with no review text visible.
September 9, 2019: review-swap post in a second Facebook group
In the public group “Google/Yelp Review Exchange/Swap Group,” an account bearing the name Lauren Salvo posted:
“Looking to exchange reviews for yelp and google for my recording studio based in Los Angeles! no budget. swaps only. please DM me :)”
The first comment shown is from an account bearing the name Joshua Gulmatico: “Hi, I sent you a message.” The post does not name the studio.
September 10, 2019: Yelp and Google reviews of a recording studio
A Yelp review dated 9/10/2019 under “Joshua ‘Waen’ G.” and a Google review under Joshua Gulmatico, displayed as “5 hours ago” at capture, each give 5 stars to the same Los Angeles-area recording studio, with word-for-word identical text. Before our redactions, both captures name the same studio and the same street address.
September 10, 2019: Yelp and Google reviews with text thanking WeRecoverData
A Yelp review dated 9/10/2019 under “Lauren S.,” Philadelphia, PA, gives 5 stars to “WeRecoverData.com Data Recovery Labs - New York,” 148 Madison, New York, NY 10016. A Google review under “Salvo Songs,” displayed as “5 hours ago” at capture, gives 5 stars to a listing named “Data Recovery Services Corp.” at 340 Madison Ave #300. The text is word-for-word identical on both platforms:
“Thank you very much WeRecoverData for a 101% recovery of my external HD with a lot of wedding pictures!! It took several weeks but was totally worth it. We are extremely grateful because even though it took 3 months, the price is still the same. I will always recommend you to my co-worker who might experience the same issue with their drives.”
February 3 to May 3, 2020: Yelp's consumer-alerts history
Yelp's alert-history page for “WeRecoverData.com Data Recovery Labs - New York” shows one entry: Date “2020-02-03 - 2020-05-03,” Alert Type “Suspicious Activity,” Status “Inactive.” The capture shows no disclosed trigger or evidence for this specific alert, and this page does not assert one.
July 2026: LinkedIn profile capture
A capture we made in July 2026, viewing the LinkedIn profile URL Kay Dean supplied while signed in to LinkedIn, lists Joshua Gulmatico, Metro Manila, Philippines, with the headline “IT Consultant at WeRecoverData.com.” No employment dates are visible in this capture, which shows the top of the profile and not its Experience section; nothing in the capture dates the affiliation to 2019 or any other time. The profile photo is the same photo that appears on the Yelp profile above.
When we viewed the profile signed in to LinkedIn earlier in July 2026, its Experience section listed employment at WeRecoverData.com beginning in late 2018. When we viewed the profile again on July 22, 2026, it no longer displayed any mention of WeRecoverData. Both statements report what we observed on those viewings, and the listing was his profile's own representation, not an independent record. Those views are not among the captures reproduced on this page; signed-in views cannot be recorded by public archive services, and a LinkedIn profile remains editable by its owner. We draw no conclusion about who made the change or why.
What These Records Do and Do Not Show
The captures above are published as they were provided to us, with our redactions marked. They show what they show: solicitation posts, reviews with identical text, reviews of WeRecoverData listings, a July 2026 LinkedIn page, and Yelp's own alert history.
These 2019 and 2020 captures do not establish that WeRecoverData directed, solicited, paid for, or knew about any review exchange. Mr. Gulmatico's own LinkedIn profile, when we viewed it signed in to LinkedIn in July 2026, listed his employment at WeRecoverData.com as beginning in late 2018; we report that as his profile's own representation, and that view is not among the captures reproduced above. The records on this page do not establish on whose behalf, if anyone, he acted when the 2019 posts appeared. Yelp does not disclose what triggered the 2020 alert, which has been inactive since May 3, 2020, and these records say nothing about WeRecoverData's reviews today.
Kay Dean's conclusions are hers, drawn from the records she assembled; we publish them as her stated conclusions, not as findings of our own. These are 2019 and 2020 captures except where marked; the accounts and reviews shown may since have been removed or changed.
If WeRecoverData, Mr. Gulmatico, or any person shown in these records identifies a specific inaccuracy on this page, we will correct it.
Kay Dean's Conclusions, in Her Own Words
The conclusions below are Kay Dean's, quoted with her hedges preserved and drawn from the records above. We publish them as her stated conclusions, not as findings of our own.
Dean's characterization of the 2019 activity
Relying on the records she assembled, including the solicitation posts and the LinkedIn capture, Dean states, in a characterization that is hers alone:
“Back in 2019, I documented a representative working on behalf of We Recover Data actively trading numerous Yelp and Google reviews with other businesses across the country in Facebook groups.”
The records she provided do not independently establish that Mr. Gulmatico worked for or with WeRecoverData in 2019. The LinkedIn capture above is from July 2026 and shows no employment dates; as stated in the records section, the signed-in profile we viewed in July 2026 listed employment at WeRecoverData.com beginning in late 2018, his profile's own representation. No record reproduced on this page shows who, if anyone, he acted for in 2019.
Dean's opinion on the Google contributor page
Of the Google contributor page shown above, and relying on that capture, Dean states:
“It's my opinion that Gulmatico also used this Google profile to trade Google reviews with businesses across the globe.”
Her reconstruction of September 9 to 10, 2019
Dean's reconstruction, from the records above: on September 9, 2019, the account that posted the swap solicitation and the account bearing the name Joshua Gulmatico made contact. On September 10, 2019, the reviews of the recording studio appeared under the Joshua accounts, and the reviews thanking WeRecoverData appeared under “Lauren S.” and “Salvo Songs.” In her account this was a completed trade: she identifies the solicitation's poster as the studio's owner, the “Lauren S.” and “Salvo Songs” accounts as that person's, and the Joshua accounts as one person's.
Those account-to-person links are Dean's. The images themselves show account names, dates, and identical review texts, and nothing more.
Kay Dean's Video Presentation of This Material
On July 30, 2026, Fake Review Watch published an 11 minute 38 second video titled “Fake Review Trades for WeRecoverData,” in which Kay Dean displays captures from the same 2019 investigation and narrates her reasoning on screen. It is her publication and her analysis, not ours. We embed it so that readers can see the material she worked from and judge her reasoning against it directly.
“Fake Review Trades for WeRecoverData,” Kay Dean, Fake Review Watch, published July 30, 2026. Runtime 11:38. Watch on YouTube.
How the Video Presents Each Episode
Six episodes are presented. In each one Dean pairs a named account with a business, then displays two five-star reviews posted the same day running in opposite directions: one from an account bearing the name Joshua Gulmatico to the other business, and one to a WeRecoverData listing from an account she links to that business. In several episodes the Yelp and Google review texts she displays are word-for-word identical across the two platforms.
The Facebook material differs from episode to episode. In four of the six she shows a review-exchange post and its reply, in some cases posted by the Joshua account and in others replied to by it. In the remaining two she shows only that the other party was a member of review-exchange groups, and says the two “must have hooked up” or that it “looks like” they did.
At 1:59 she says she “documented over two dozen review trades on behalf of We Recover Data in 2019,” adding that she tracked them on a sheet. The six episodes in the video are a subset she presents in detail.
Dean names the other businesses and the individual account holders in the video. We describe them by type and location instead, consistent with the redaction policy stated above: those businesses and people are not the subject of this page.
Where to Look in the Video
Timestamps below are the start of each segment, so a reader can go to the footage and check any statement on this page against what the video actually displays.
- 0:40: how the Facebook review-exchange groups operate, and the Facebook, Google, Yelp, and LinkedIn accounts Dean connects to one name.
- 1:59: Dean's count of the trades she documented in 2019 and her tracking sheet.
- 2:31: September 10, 2019, the Los Angeles-area recording studio. The reviews she displays here are the same ones reproduced in the captures above.
- 3:49: September 19, 2019, a medical spa in Temecula, California.
- 5:16: September 23, 2019, a restaurant in San Francisco.
- 6:19: August 12, 2019, a lounge in the Miami area.
- 7:14: late July 2019, a contractor in Encino, California.
- 8:11: August 24, 2019, a landscaping business in Rochester Hills, Michigan.
- 9:13: the LinkedIn profile before and after.
- 9:55: the 2020 Yelp alert and the Center for Investigative Reporting's Reveal program.
What Dean States in the Video
Her conclusions in the video are hers, and she states them as conclusions. Closing the six episodes at 9:13, she says:
“Those are just a few of the fake review trades I concluded Joshua Gulmatico made on behalf of We Recover Data back in 2019.”
On the Yelp alert, at 11:24, after describing her late 2019 and early 2020 work with the Center for Investigative Reporting, she says:
“But Yelp's actions essentially confirmed my research, including on We Recover Data, which was one of the original businesses to receive a Yelp alert for suspicious review activity.”
Dean also reports, at 9:21, that she supplied the LinkedIn profile URL to Louis Rossmann and that he captured it in July 2026 showing the WeRecoverData headline. She then states that the profile shows neither the photo nor any reference to WeRecoverData. On the WeRecoverData reference, that is consistent with what we report from our own two viewings above; we make no observation of our own about the profile photo. As stated there, we draw no conclusion about who made the change or why.
What the Video Does Not Change
The video is a fuller presentation of Dean's work, not a new category of record. The limits stated in what these records do and do not show apply to it in full. Nothing displayed in the video establishes that WeRecoverData directed, solicited, paid for, or knew about any review exchange. The links between accounts and named people, and the attribution of any account's activity to any employer, are Dean's conclusions drawn from the material she assembled. Yelp does not disclose what triggered the 2020 alert. The captures shown are from 2019 and 2020 except where the video marks otherwise, and they say nothing about WeRecoverData's reviews today. Nothing in this section states that WeRecoverData's management authorized, knew of, or directed anything shown.
Fake Review Watch is responsible for the content of its video. We publish it as her work, with her conclusions attributed to her. If WeRecoverData, Mr. Gulmatico, or any person shown identifies a specific inaccuracy in how this page describes the video, we will correct it.
Federal Consumer-Review Rule, Effective October 2024
Buying, selling, or trading reviews, and reviews from people with an undisclosed material connection to the business, are now prohibited by federal rule. The FTC's Trade Regulation Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials, 16 CFR Part 465, was published on August 22, 2024 and took effect on October 21, 2024. It applies to conduct after its effective date; it postdates the records on this page by about five years, and nothing on this page asserts that it applies to anything shown above.
Corrections and Related Reporting
This page quotes each capture as displayed and dates every item. If WeRecoverData, Mr. Gulmatico, or any person shown in these records identifies a specific inaccuracy on this page, we will correct it. The standard this page is held to, and the route for disputing anything on it, are set out in our editorial standards and corrections policy.
We are a data recovery company, so a page like this one is written by a competitor of the company it documents. That is a reason to open the captures rather than take our word for it. It is also why we publish a list of competitors we recommend, none of whom pay us anything. Documenting one company badly is not an argument that the industry is rotten, and we would rather point you at labs doing it right.
Related reporting from this site: our reporting on review manipulation in the data recovery industry and our page on WeRecoverData.