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Wanting a night out with friends? Keen to try something new? Do a quick Google search and up comes a bunch of restaurants nearby, one with far more positive reviews than the rest. But are they real? Fake reviews for everything from bakeries to dental services are abundant on the internet, and separating them from the real deal can take time and effort.

It’s hard to know exactly how many aren’t genuine, with estimates varying from about 10 percent to a third of all online reviews. Google is home to six times as many reviews as any other portal, even it has trouble keeping up. Last year the search engine said it removed 95 million reviews that did not meet its guidelines.

Our confidence and skills with online shopping are improving every day, which means we’re becoming more adventurous with our purchases. Clothes, snacks, bath essentials, shoes, whatever it is we’re looking for, there's surely an online store selling it. But, what can we do if the product we bought was actually a knock-off?

Fake online reviews have become such a menace that the UK Government has launched an investigating into online review sites to check if the information posted is 'genuine, relevant and trustworthy'.

It's estimated that 81 percent of UK consumers read customer reviews or ratings and 47 percent read blogs to help make purchasing decision.

Businesses have wised up to the importance of online reviews and some – not all – encourage friends or hire strangers to write reviews about they're product without actually trying it. In fact, a study by Harvard Business School showed 16 percent of Yelp's restaurant reviews were fake.

We've compiled a list of five classic signs of fake reviews to help you make the best decision for your next purchase.