Not all these notifications are fake but they can still be misleading. I've investigated a few of these sorts of apps on Shopify. They do use actual customer n

Not all these notifications are fake but they can still be misleading. I've investigated a few of these sorts of apps on Shopify. They do use actual customer names but how long ago those orders came in seems a little dubious. I believe it's not so much to promote fear of missing out - other apps do that better - e.g. ones that copy booking.com's pattern of 'only x left!'. Instead, they're a very good way to signal to potential buyers that the (usually small) shop is being used by other shoppers to increase trust. Few people go in to empty restaurants. It would be interesting to know if there are legal implications to lying about your visitors using services like these, though.