Enter the World of Fake Reviews
Despite attempts to quell fraudulent reviews, they will appear practically everywhere. The other day I was looking through reviews of 18650 batteries (those large lithium-ion ones found in various consumer electronics). One particular battery that caught my attention was an off-brand battery that didn’t have a single discharge test performed on it, but it had an uncanny amount of five-star reviews. They were all written in broken language. I immediately wrote them all off as fake after I discovered another website with a large amount of reviews that looked like they were written by people who actually used the battery. They didn’t have anything remarkably positive to say about it. This is an experience a lot of people who frequently order online can relate to. To avoid fake reviews people often turn to stricter and more reputable sites like Yelp, which boasts the mantra “Real People. Real Reviews.” Despite having an algorithm that rapidly discards user submissions suspected of being fake, it seems to be having troubles of its own. The New York Attorney General’s office has recently fined a number of companies for paying freelancers to write fake reviews on Yelp. There are reviews that slip through, which spells trouble for people looking for objective opinions.
Why Are Fake Reviews Written?
Sometimes people may post a fake review about a product because they want to imbibe in the experience of having used it without purchasing it (it’s a psychological thing). However, these reviews are rare.
How to Spot a Fake Review
When you want to find out if you should really consider purchasing a product on the Internet, read the reviews first! Don’t just buy it because five pretty stars appear next to its name. For all you know all of the reviews about it were fake! While you’re reading, keep an eye out for these things:
Consistently broken language on a product available only where a large fluent-speaking majority is expected (i.e. an unnaturally large amount of broken Romanian speakers on a Romanian website); Everything said about the product is very positive, but no technical details are given; The “pros” and “cons” lists consistently show only “pros” but no “cons” or the reverse; Very strong emotional words but no real constructive context brought to the table; and/or The reviewers use nicknames instead of their real name (on Yelp).
A review can have any of these and still be real, so use your best judgment to ensure that what you are reading comes from a person who really used the product. Keep in mind that a lot of fraudulent reviewers are freelancers who are paid pennies on the dollar (usually $1 a pop) to write a review. They won’t put much effort into it. So let’s try to construct two examples of reviews (a fraudulent one and then a real one) about a pair of headphones. This is what a fraudulent one may look like: A real one would look more like this: That last user seems to have actually used the headphones. The review is more likely to be real.
Can We Ever Trust The Internet?!
As anyone who is very “in tune” with the ebb and flow of the Internet can tell you, it’s about as great a place to get information as it is to get manipulated and deceived. In a way that’s no different than participating in “real life” society or watching television. However, people who are quick to trust the written word are often more vulnerable to falling victim to the Web’s darker side. How do you see us approaching the problem of filtering out all the fraud? Tell us in a comment!
