[Updated] Found MouthShut cheaters/thieves? READ!. Review on General Tips on Websites

[I was contacted by Mouthshut, and was told that one-time offenses will not be grounds for removal, but they will monitor the offenders. Also that support@mouthshut-inc.com, is the appropriate area to send information.]

OK. I have been here less than 1 month, and already I have found 6+ members (some are the same person) who are scamming MouthShut and its members.

This “review” is not going to name any of them that info will be available in my profile; but this is meant to give some advice on dealing with these clowns.

What they are doing:

• They set up an account, normally using one of the free web-mail services (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.) in which you can have as many e-mail accounts as you want.

  
  




• Next, they set up multiple accounts using the first on as the referrer. This way the expect to get the “referral points”.

  
  




• They post incoherent, 75 word paragraphs, which have nothing to do with a product “review,” but may have to do with product “description”. This is information which you can get on the companies website or a magazine ad.

  
  

OR

• They steal a review from another site, generally using a search engine to find them. Sometimes they may claim that they know the person who did the review, and have been given permission.

  
  




• They rack up points by a) writing the fake reviews/descriptions, then having honest members and the members which they set up, rate the reviews. By using their multiple accounts, they are giving high ratings to offset the poor ones from honest members.

  
  

What you can do:

• Immediately place the person on your distrust list. The distrust list is there for us to use, and should be used to notify other members.

  
  




• Place a comment in your profile, stating who you have found to be committing fraud. Do this only after finding the original review link, and posting it alongside the profile information. This covers your rear.

  
  




• E-mail MouthShut at support@mouthshut-inc.com, giving them as much detail as possible.

  
  




• Rate the review as Not Recommended, with an optional comment on why you rated that way. But, believe me, they will know why.

  
  

Notice:

• If a member has just started, and has posted no reviews yet, why would he/she have anyone trust them yet? To be fair however, one member (bluehawg) made a good point...''I trust a couple that have not written simply because I trust them elsewhere and know their writting well.'' Just be cautious.

  
  




• Notice the style of writing for the members. If he /she has written 5+ review, all of which are as incomprehensible as anything, one paragraph long, and full of grammar errors, then why is the latest review in perfect form – proper grammar/English, no misspellings, clear points, more than 1 paragraph long, and completely inconsistent with his/her other reviews. Don’t immediately comment on them stealing, but do a check on search engines for similar reviews. Use keywords in the reviews.

  
  

MouthShut is great site, and I thoroughly enjoy reading and receiving comments and reviews. However, the dishonesty of a few is getting out of hand. We have got to do this together if we expect it to be reduced.

MouthShut staff does a good job dealing with them, but we need to do what we can, as well. Let's give them a hand with this.

I am not a negative person, but for several reasons, I am a wary one. I do not take many things at face value (a reason I like MouthShut), and am cynical to a point. Understand that my cynicism is focused only at strengthening the integrity of this site.

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Please feel free to leave any comments or evidence (actual link to the original, not just accusations) in the comment section for everyone.