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Four ways to spot a fake online review

Kim Komando
Special for USA TODAY

I was poking around Amazon a while back and saw an 85-inch Samsung TV that cost $45,000. Just for fun I checked out the reviews and saw these gems:

There are clues in telling the difference between real, helpful online reviews and fake ones.

"I was going to fund my daughters [sic.] wedding in Hawaii, but I figured this Samsung TV would last much longer." -- Jordan

"The black levels and color depth on this TV are pretty good for the price. However, the small screen size is a deal breaker. I recommend buying an IMAX theater instead." -- David

If you haven't run across them before, there's a long tradition of users leaving funny fake reviews on odd or extravagant products on Amazon.com. Here are some of the funniest ones I've found.

Unfortunately, not all fake reviews are hilarious. Marketing firms often pay people to leave positive reviews on major seller sites to boost sales. In fact, Amazon just sued more than 1,000 people who were paid to post fake five-star reviews on products.

Even legitimate reviews might be unhelpful. Maybe the reviewer went overboard with unwarranted praise or criticism. You don't want to base your purchasing decision on faulty information. We're going to look at how you can tell the difference between a real, helpful review and a fake or unhelpful one.

But first ...

Before we go into the signs, however, there's one general rule I need to mention. You should never base a buying decision off of only one online review, whether it's positive or negative.

Look around the shopping site you're on, and other shopping sites or online sources, for more reviews. Additional reviews will help you get a picture of what the product is really like. Also, don't just go by star ratings because every reviewer has different things they consider pros and cons.

Here's an example: Looking at reviews for a printer recently, some people gave it five stars and mentioned that it used ink a little fast but print quality was great. Other people gave it one star and said print quality was great but it burned through ink. It's the same information from completely different viewpoints. So, don't just skim.

OK, now for the signs of fake or unhelpful reviews.

1. Non-factual/Overly factual reviews

Facts are important in a review. When you're writing your own reviews, staying factual can protect you from a lawsuit. However, factual tips are also more useful for everyone.

If you see a string of reviews that are heavy on the adjectives ("Amazing!" "Fantastic!" "Life-changing!") and light on facts, skip them. You're looking for reviews that tell you what specific features the reviewer found that make it a good, or bad, product.

In fact, it often saves time to skip 5-star reviews and look at the 4-star and 1-star reviews to see what negatives people mention. Again, however, any negatives need to be backed up with facts. "It was terrible" tells you a lot less than, "It worked fine for three weeks and then the power button fell off."

On the other end of the spectrum, you might find reviews that have too many facts with no conclusions. It might just be a list of product features with no information about how the product impacted the reviewer. That's a sign the reviewer is just copying the features list and possibly doesn't actually own the product.

Amazon does have a "verified purchase" tag on some reviews to show that the person did in fact buy the product. Be sure to look for that when you're considering reviews on Amazon.

2. Similar reviews

There have been plenty of times I've been researching a product and started noticing a similarity in the reviews across several websites. In one case, nearly every review was posted on the same day. That's certainly a red flag, and the fact that none of the reviews was very factual was just the icing.

For another product, every positive review I found online was the same exact review. The author's name was even the same on every site. That's not a coincidence, that's just plain lazy on some marketer's part.

Reading through a string of reviews on Amazon, you might notice a whole collection that uses similar word groupings and writing style. That's usually a warning flag as well. It means the reviewers are either copying the manufacturer's information or the same person wrote them all.

3. New reviewers

Watch out for product reviews from new accounts or new websites. True, the person might have created the account just to buy that product, but some of the reviews should be from long-time members of the site.

Most shopping sites, such as Amazon, let you see the profile of the person leaving the review. That way, you can see what they've reviewed in the past. Find out what your Amazon profile reveals about you and how to take control of it.

You might find the person has reviewed hundreds of widely dissimilar products, which gives them a more credibility than someone who's only reviewed a few items from the same manufacturer. It helps, too, if some of those reviews had factual criticisms.

4. Few reviews

The only thing worse than tons of suspicious reviews is very few reviews. You're left with no way to make comparisons. At that point, every review becomes suspicious, especially if they only appear in out-of-the-way blogs and websites.

For example, there might be a "too-good-to-be-true" tech product for sale that doesn't have a review, or even a mention, on any reputable tech site. Or you might have to visit page 10 of Google's search results to even find a review of the product you're after.

In those cases, give it a miss. You're better off buying a competitor that has more reviews, or just not buying that type of product entirely.

On the Kim Komando Show, the nation's largest weekend radio talk show, Kim takes calls and dispenses advice on today's digital lifestyle, from smartphones and tablets to online privacy and data hacks. For her daily tips, free newsletters and more, visit her website at Komando.com. Email her at techcomments@usatoday.com.

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