Summary: Deception online is trivially easy with today's technologies. There's more snake-oil on the internet than ever before - how do you know what's legit?
A very good friend - a mentor and inspiration for Ask Leo!, in fact - has fallen victim to a particularly nasty form of fraud. It turns into an important lesson for all of us in understanding what we can, and cannot believe on the internet.
Here's the scenario...
There's a web site that, for lack of a better term, promotes a "get rich quick" scheme. I'm not going to name names, because I don't want to give them any press or links or page views. In fact, the specifics aren't important here - the situation, however, is.
On this web site, near the bottom is a glowing testimonial. From my friend.
A testimonial that he never provided.
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The testimonial is much like you'd see on any web site trying to sell you something. It shows his smiling picture, a photograph of a check made out to him in some large amount, and includes a description of his story, and glowing words about what this particular product did for him.
The problem is that it's all fake.
He never used the product. He never gave an endorsement.
The photo of my friend was stolen from his web site, and the photo of the check is a photoshopped fake.
The pretty words that are his "endorsement"? Total fabrication. Lies.
The entire scenario is fraud, at its most blatant.
And aside from reporting it to the appropriate authorities (which he has done), and getting angry about it (definitely), or perhaps engaging an attorney (I'm sure he's considering it), there's actually little to be done that will force any immediate reaction or retraction.
What does this all mean to you?
A mutual friend, Paul Myers, wrote in his newsletter about this very same scenario:
Here's something you won't hear a lot of copywriters say:
Do not believe anything you read in a testimonial unless you know the person giving it, or the person selling the product, well enough that the testimonial doesn't matter anyway.
If you only know the person giving the testimonial, you may want to ask if they really did say what the sales page claims they said.
In short: don't believe everything you read on the internet.
People often joke about that statement, and I'll admit it's kind of odd for me to remind you of it given that I make my living these days by publishing on the internet. But really, how often do you blindly assume that what you find after a Google search is in fact legitimate? Or that a web site you stumble upon happens to be on the up-and-up?
Or that the testimonial or customer feedback you find is actually legitimate?
How often do you take the time to research - really research - a business or a business opportunity that you find on the internet?
That's the key: don't assume. Double check.
As Paul points out above, you can't just assume testimonials on websites are valid - they could be completely made up, and sadly they often are. And even if not that blatantly fabricated, to once again quote Paul:
You might also be surprised to know how many of the testimonials you see aren't from paying customers at all. A lot of them are nice things people say about the product in return for getting a free copy.
That's even something I have to be careful of here on Ask Leo!. I do get offered free copies of things (which I generally, politely, decline) in exchange for a positive review. That's not how I operate.
But it's not uncommon.
My advice?
Be cautious. Take recommendations only from places (or people) you already trust, and even then with a grain of salt. If you're about to purchase something based on testimonials (or customer reviews, or blog comments or other similar content) consider the source, and in particular, consider how trivial it would be for that to be totally bogus. Talk to people - real people - who you know and trust who've used whatever it is you're considering.
I'm not saying that all reviews or testimonials are bogus - I'm just saying that when it comes to parting with your money, there are many people who will go through great lengths to convince you of just about anything. Making stuff up is just one approach that they're not above using.
Stealing the image of, and attributing fake praise to an otherwise trusted, legitimate resource is just one example. Making stuff up.
Fraud.
To be clear - I'm not saying "don't shop on line", or "don't respond to offers on the internet". There's a ton of really good stuff out there, from legitimate businesses and individuals. To pass it all up due to fear would be just as foolish as believing everything you read.
You do simply need to take a little responsibility for taking an extra step or two to verify that you're doing business with a legitimate entity.
And you need to know what you can - and cannot - trust.
The internet no different than life in general that way.
(As an aside, if you're a writer, a copy-writer, a budding internet marketer
or entrepreneur - I do recommend Paul Myer's TalkBiz News newsletter. Paul's an effective and
highly entertaining writer himself and he shares many of his tips, advice - and
occasional rants - that are all incredibly educational. And yes, this is a
testimonial, no he didn't ask for it, and yes if you were to verify it with me
some other way you'd get the same message. He's legit. 
)
Article C4150 - February 16, 2010
Tricky Dick didn't say "Trust, but verify," Ronald Reagan said it.
Posted by: Tom R. at February 23, 2010 1:34 PMhttp://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1987/120887c.htm
I just google with the words product and review where product is the particular item we are wanting to learn about.
There is no need to even visit those webpages. The opening lines say everything about it. Good or bad.
Ravi.
Posted by: Ravi Agrawal at February 23, 2010 10:12 PMFirst, a Pet Peeve: "Internet", not "internet", always. It's a proper noun. You might notice, Leo, that you've got your commenters doing it, too -- grrrr! Please! ALWAYS capitalize the word "Internet", folks! That's the correct spelling & usage!
Now: with THAT off my chest...
The way I typically decide on the trustworthiness of a recommendation (especially a computer program) is based upon the trustworthiness of the recommender. I happen to have a short list of what I might term "Trusted Recommenders" -- perhaps they might be of interest to you. In no particular order:
I have come to respect these sources as reliable and trustworthy, and any recommendation any of them might offer is generally presumed valid and safe, at least initially and barring any counterindication, and particularly so if more than one of them has mentioned the same item.
More generally, good spelling, proper grammar, and a clean page counts for something (not much, but something). If I see an item on a page free of errors, I tend to believe the item itself is likelier than otherwise to itself be error-free. On the other hand, if the page is full of typos or spelling mistakes or grammatical errors, it doesn't much matter the reputation of the page-writer, I don't put a lot of faith in what he writes just on that basis alone! Who would trust in the carefulness of a person -- a programmer, perhaps? -- who is too careless, even to SPELL correctly?!?
Posted by: Glenn P. at February 27, 2010 2:02 AMNone of those 'trust programs' are up to date although some are better than others.
Posted by: sirpaul1 at March 9, 2010 11:47 PMIf a web site makes a change to something nefarious (or vice versa), they won't be 'updated' till the next sweep. I use WOT. I've had to say "Oops!" a few times and I've been to 'red' sites and not had any problems.
And it's 'e-mail' not 'email'. Kinda like 'snail mail' not 'snailmail'!
So if what you say is true then I can't trust you. lol Im kiddin nice article though I think you got it.
Posted by: Oxios at June 13, 2010 12:36 AM