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Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Peer-review: how to know a request is legit?

Hello everyone! I have received an email asking to peer-review a paper. This is my first approach (if you exclude obviously predatory journals) as I am still a PhD student.

I was approached via my personal email, which I used to publish a thesis after I lost institutional affiliation, so I know which paper the editor has either read or seen the abstract of. Reviewing this paper as an ‘expert’ is a bit of a stretch, and whilst it’s broadly in my area I couldn’t really comment on who the author has neglected to mention etc.

The journal seems legit? My area is so interdisciplinary, I probably draw from 100+ journals so it’s not unusual to not recognize a journal’s name. 

I am hoping for a little guidance as to whether it’s okay to accept, what the general norms are of doing this and how to identify when I should and shouldn’t turn these offers down beyond the obvious of totally different subject and clearly predatory.

Thanks!
gpt
1. View several issues of the journal to see if people you recognize have published in it. This will help you assess if it's legit. 
2. Ask your advisor.
3. It is probably not legit, though this depends on your field. 
4. Ask your advisor. 
5. If you don't feel comfortable reviewing it (you said you're not the expert they're looking for) *and* if you judge the journal to be legit, politely decline. If it's not legit, mark the email junk or spam and move on.
6. Ask your advisor.