Have you noticed the latest trend in the world of shopping and commerce? A few years ago, companies were encouraging us to like them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter. (They still do today, though not as often given that avid internet users know by now that virtually every business has jumped on the social media bandwagon.) Now, they're pushing us to review them on sites like Yelp. But, as the saying goes, they ought to be careful what they wish for. I have had unpleasant experiences at various restaurants and retail establishments in the past year, and I've had no qualms about airing these sentiments on said websites. In fact, many consumers are more inclined to rate and review a company following a bad experience than a favorable one. A preponderance of either negative or positive reviews, however, should raise red flags. For example, a disproportionate number of 5-star reviews coming from accounts with only one or two reviews to their name means something i...

Everyone and their brother shops at Amazon.com. It is, after all, the biggest Internet-based retailer in the U.S., offering everything from books and apparel to food and jewelry. It turns out that Amazon is now cracking down on people who are posting phony reviews to the site. The latest case involves users of Fiverr.com, an online marketplace where you can take on such "gigs" as writing a news story for $10. Amazon discovered that people were offering to write positive reviews of products they'd never even used, often with text provided by the seller. Sometimes they'd go so far as to receive empty envelopes in the mail to create the illusion that they were receiving shipments of these products. Amazon is suing 1,000 people, but the most bizarre part of the story is that the internet giant doesn't even know their true identities. It has only user names to go by, and the fact these people employed multiple accounts and IP addresses makes it even more diffic...