BEFORE DROPPING A FEW hundred dollars on a fancy hotel room with rave online reviews, be sure that what you're reading is legitimate, and not the work of a hired writer or the business itself. As online review platforms such as Yelp and TripAdvisor become more popular, businesses have a greater incentive to game the system-drumming up buzz with planted accolades or tarnishing competitors with unfair criticism. Last year the New York state attorney general's office cracked down on 19 companies that solicited fake reviews to prop up local services.
展开▼
