[Surprised?] Many online reviews are fake
Today, many people rely on the word of others to make purchasing decisions whether it's a restaurant, a hotel, a book or even choosing a real estate agent. But David Streitfeld writing in the NY Times reports, "an industry of fibbers and promoters has sprung up to buy and sell raves for a pittance."
A couple of examples cited: "I will pay for positive feedback on TripAdvisor" and "if you have an active Yelp account and would like to make very easy money please respond" (to a post on Craigslist no less)
A number of my clients have been nice enough to write me letting me know how pleased they were with the service that I provided when either buying or selling a home in Charleston. You can read some rave reviews here.
But I've never gotten around to asking anyone to write reviews of my service on many of the available online sites. And now we know that all those positive reviews aren't real after all.