BlackBerry's 5-star BBM app reviews reportedly fake

While BlackBerry may be celebrating the launch of its BBM messaging app on Apple and Android devices, many of the rave reviews on the Google Play store look to be fake.

On Tuesday, the struggling smartphone maker boasted that its BBM app had been downloaded 10 million times on Apple and Android devices in the first 24 hours after its launch.

Customer reviews on those sites has been overwhelmingly positive, with an average of 3.5 stars on the Apple app store, and an average of 4.2 on the Google play store with 88,000 five-star reviews.

However, five of the top eight reviews are identical, saying "Thank you so much blackberry team. I was waiting this app. Its really great user friendly and smooth."

Looking through more pages reveals dozens more identical reviews, most rated five stars.

It is not clear who is behind the apparently bogus reviews, although BlackBerry has released a statement to a number of outlets saying they "do not approve of or condone such activities," and are working with Google for a solution.

And although the BBM app has been downloaded 10 million times, it is not clear how many are actively using the service. When the app is downloaded, users must enter their email address to "get in line" to activate the app, and the wait times are in some cases over 24 hours.

BlackBerry has not responded to a CBC News request for comment.