On the face of it the idea of having product reviews online to give us an insight in to how good a particular product is, may seem very sensible and incredibly useful. Sadly however, many have seen the opportunity to leave fake reviews in order to boost the business or to make people think that a particular product is better than it is. This poses quite an issue for the consumer, as to whether or not to believe a positive review. Indeed it is for this reason that we have great sites such as Topconsumerreviews, which seek to highlight only the truthful reviews of products and services which can be found online.
So what exactly does a fake review look like, and what should you be watching out for when you are checking reviews online? Let’s take a look at some telltale signs.
Poor English
Believe it or not there are actually review factories which are dotted around the world, and the people working inside them are literally paid to leave reviews all day. Now if you are reading a review and the English isn’t very good then you may assume that this has been filled out by someone from another country, that isn’t a huge red flag. If however there are multiple reviews which all use broken and poorly formed English, then you should approach with caution as it may have been written by someone in one of these factories.
Too Much Information
When people lie they try to overwhelm the person listening with an abundance of detail to make the lie more believable. When most people review a product or service they will give you a little bit of background but in the main it will focus on what they are reviewing. If you see a review which is discussing a restaurant and they begin to get stuck into who was there and what they were there for etc etc. then it could very well be that they are not telling the truth about their experience.
The Reviewer
What you will often find when you read a glowing review mixed in with a number of damaging reviews, is that the reviewer has only ever left one review. You can check this out by clicking on the person’s name and seeing what other reviews they have left. This is certainly a telltale sign that you probably shouldn’t believe what they have to say.
All Positive
Even people who are happy with a product or service will offer up some pros and cons, so if you are reading a review which is 100% positive then this is something which you should maybe take with a pinch of salt. Nothing is every 100% positive, and few people forego the negative details, no matter how few they are.
There are no guarantees that you will spot every fake review but when you are reading through what people have said, bear these things in mind before you make your decision.
