Here are some warning signs that an online review is being left by a shill, or shills:

The reviews:

* Have zero caveats, and are full of empty adjectives and pure glowing praise with no downsides.
* Are all left within a short period of time of each other.
* Mainly tally off product features. (Real users talk more about performance, reliability, and overall value).
* Reviewers names are all variations of one another, i.e. happykat1234, happykat7593, happykat6687

Online reviews are just another data point to use when researching a product, and they’re best when taken in aggregate. Skim a slew of them so that you get a general sense of the tone and to figure out if there’s a common complaint, or piece of praise, that keeps cropping up.

What techniques do you use to spot fake online reviews? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

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