  Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are a class of short-duration transients at radio
wavelengths with inferred astrophysical origin. The prototypical FRB is a
broadband signal that occurs over the extent of the receiver frequency range,
is narrow in time, and is highly dispersed, following a $\nu^{-2}$ relation.
However, some FRBs appear band-limited, and show apparent scintillation,
complex frequency-dependent structure, or multi-component pulse shapes. While
there is sufficient evidence that FRBs are indeed astrophysical, their one-off
nature necessitates extra scrutiny when reporting a detection as bona fide and
not a false positive. Currently, there is no formal validation framework for
FRBs, rather a set of community practices. In this article, we discuss
potential sources of false positives, and suggest a framework in which FRB-like
events can be evaluated as real or otherwise. We present examples of
false-positive events in data from the Arecibo, LOFAR, and Nanshan telescopes,
which while FRB-like, are found to be due to instrumental variations, noise,
and radio-frequency interference. Differentiating these false-positive
detections from astrophysical events requires knowledge and tests beyond
thresholded single-pulse detection. We discuss post-detection analyses,
verification tests, and datasets which should be provided when reporting an FRB
detection.
