This is probably a 101 question (probably on the wrong board too), but how can you tell if a reviewer and/or review is legit?

Easier said than done.

Look to see if the reviewer has more than 1 review.  See if the review he wrote is consistent with other reviews he has written.  Most reviewers have a style that you will learn to recognize. If the review is his first review are his scores similar to others that the lady has received.  

First reviews written by new reviewers are always suspect.  Flyers are suspect (something far outside the normal scores)

Generally, if a lady receives her first review from an experienced reviewer it can be trusted.

If you don't have VIP yet, get it and start reading reviews.  Any reviews.  All reviews.  You'll quickly learn what to look for.

Just recently a lady I've been seeing told me one of her reviews might be fake. There were several inconsistencies like clothing that she doesn't even own as well as things on her menu. I researched the other reviews written by this guy and found some others that were possibly "fake" too.
From what I've seen about "fake" reviews:
1.They are usually very brief. (sometimes only 3-4 sentenaces in the public and juicy details). Granted, some people are not very strong writers so they write brief reviews, but I've yet to come across a long well written review that has lead me to believe it was fake.
2. They are very "generic." Not much detail about the provider, the ambiance, the encounter:  "We did DFK, and then I daty her until she came, she BBBJ me.."
3. They are often written about BP ladies or ladies who are not TER members so they are completely unaware that someone is making stuff up about them. Every now and then it happens to a TER lady and she will post here that it is a fake.

Agreed. It's not bad if a lady has 'some' newbie reviews, but she should have more than half I would think by established reviewers. If she has 10 pages of reviews and only one page is made up of legit hobbyists, that's a problem.

hard to do..many write fake reviews just to get VIP days..check the reviewers track record..is his style and scoring consistent..check the providers reviews..are they reviewed by reviewers with good histories or first timers..many copy parts of a previous review and submit as their own..almost always a first time reviewer with no history..done a lot of times to boost said providers rating..a lot of fake 9's and 10's around..weeding them out is the hard part..i do not envy TER admin on this matter..fake reviews undermine the very fabric of this site..

as I have said many times, research is the key.  Get VIP if you don't have it and read lots of reviews.  Also read the self help center.  Fake reviews happen all the time, and if it's good, the provider may not want to have it removed.  Guys write them to get the free VIP days.

Sometimes you can't tell if it's fake or not, but be skeptical of first reviews of a provider by a reviewer that is writing his first review.  TER says it won't post those, but it happens all the time.  (hope I don't get into trouble for saying that)  If the reviewer has over half a dozen reviews and the provider has, say, over 10. it's probably legit.  Like we said, you have to read a lot of reviews.

Swim