As online retailers increasingly depend on reviews as a sales tool, an industry of fibbers and promoters has sprung up.

Determining the number of fake reviews on the Web is difficult. But it is enough of a problem to attract a team of Cornell researchers, who recently published a paper about creating a computer algorithm for detecting fake reviewers.

“The whole system falls apart if made-up reviews are given the same weight as honest ones”, said one of the researchers, Myle Ott.

Test reviews yourself at Review Skeptic.

Review Skeptic via New York Times.