User:Shadowowl/Ref fraud

Reference fraud or Ref fraud is when an editor adds a reference to an article that does not support the statement before the reference. Ref fraud is usually found in paid articles, but it is not exclusive to them.

Examples of reference fraud
These are the most obvious ones, but paid editors that aren't stupid do something else.
 * Coal is really great!

In this case, the article is about coal, but it does not describe how great coal is. A editor who doesn't check the page referred to may think that the article claims that coal is really great, and will leave it in the article.
 * Coal is really great!