(WHTM)– As we head into the holiday season, Amazon and a group of travel sites are saying they’ve had enough of fake reviews! So they making a new effort to crack down on all those reviews that claim a product or place is great, when it’s not.

Amazon, Expedia, Trip Advisor, and Glassdoor have just announced they are teaming up to fight phony reviews on their sites. It’s gotten so bad that many shoppers are skeptical of the reviews they see.

Now, Amazon and these other sites are putting together the “Coalition for Trusted Reviews” and will use the latest technology to spot and remove fake reviews.

How bad is it? Two years ago, a PCMag expose claimed it found 200 thousand of Amazon reviewers who were being paid to post positive reviews of products.

“What happened was they were sent a product, they were given instructions on how to review, make it believable, obviously make it positive,” PCMag’s Chandra Steele said.

Steele says the third-party sellers would then reward the reviewers.

“We will let you keep the product for free we will pay you for the review,” Steele said.

Amazon has released a statement saying “We have clear review policies …..And we ban and take legal action against those who violate these policies.”

But apparently, it wasn’t enough and now Amazon and the other sites are putting their heads together, to try to make a dent in positive reviews of lousy products and hotels.

In the meantime, use skepticism when holiday shopping or planning a trip: that glowing review may have been paid for so you don’t waste your money.