Is that online review real? Here’s how to spot a fake

You probably know the saying: don’t believe everything you see on the internet.

The same rule applies to online reviews.

The Better Business Bureau warns consumers to be on the lookout for fake reviews online while shopping on major sites like Amazon.

According to the BBB, e-commerce sites often have tools to analyze and remove fake reviews. However, with sellers constantly finding new ways to create fake reviews and hiring thousands of people to post them, it’s nearly impossible to get rid of every fake review quickly. As a consumer, it’s important to know when to pass on a product by spotting red flags in fake reviews.

The BBB provided some detailed steps on what to look out for when shopping online.

How to spot a fake review

• Pay attention to general reviewer profiles. If a reviewer has a very common or generic name, such as B. John Smith or Jane Doe, you have spotted a red flag. Fake reviewers usually post under fake names, sometimes just a string of letters and numbers, and rarely have a profile picture.

• Read reviews from customers with verified purchases. Many e-commerce sites add a badge or otherwise indicate whether a purchase is verified, which means the reviewer bought the product on the same site they wrote the review on. Reviews of unverified purchases are far more likely to be fake.

• Examine the quality of product reviews. A good review briefly explains why or why not the product in question was a good buy. If you notice that a product has multiple five-star or one-star reviews with just a word or two in the written portion of the review, you may be looking at fake reviews. This is especially true when you notice multiple similar reviews posted within a short window of time.

• Be careful with the scene setting. A study conducted by Cornell University found that truthful reviewers tend to include specific words related to the product or service they purchased, while fake reviewers like to set the scene. They can talk about how “her husband” visited a particular hotel for a “holiday” or “business trip” instead of focusing on the actual hotel experience. This is another warning sign of fake reviews.
• Check the grammar and spelling. Sometimes sellers outsource their fake reviews to content farms where non-native English speakers write reviews. The result is fake reviews with misspellings and poor grammar. If you read a review out loud and it doesn’t sound natural, it could be fake.
• Find out if the reviewer received a free product. Some ecommerce platforms have programs that pre-release products to customers in exchange for their honest review. An example is Amazon Vine. This type of program is usually legitimate and can be helpful, but when you realize that almost every review of a product comes from someone who received a free product, think twice. It’s also good to look at the overall reviews. If the only satisfied customer was the one who received a free product, it might not be worth paying for it.
• Look at the number of reviews. Business Insider warns that a product that has few reviews, especially when compared to similar products, is likely less reliable.
• Try a tool to spot fake reviews. There are third-party tools that you can use to weed out fake reviews. Some of them offer a letter rating based on how many fake reviews were detected, while others eliminate fake reviews to provide consumers with a customized star rating. However, these tools are not infallible. So instead of expecting a black and white answer, use it to help you make a purchasing decision.

• Report fake reviews. Most platforms allow you to report abuse if you spot a fake review. This can help the platform eliminate fake reviews faster and protect your fellow consumers.