Fake Bad Restaurant Reviews

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Fake Bad Restaurant Reviews

Pandemic-ravaged restaurants — some of which still struggling through staffing shortages — now have a new complication to face, as an extortion scam from international blackmailers is hitting eateries where it hurts the most: their reputations.

Some restaurants suddenly started seeing multiple 1-star reviews pop up online that set off red flags for their owners.

Some restaurants stated that they enjoy the likes of 500 positive reviews and don't get 1-star reviews very often at all, so when they see this consistently they start to get worried and frustrated. Consistent bad reviews can be very damaging to a bar or restaurant.

But the bad review kept on coming in — and then the ransom emails arrived. They demanded money in online gift cards to remove the negative posts.

They were saying 'We are from India, we are very poor, send us a $75 Google gift card, we get $50 of that and that feeds us for three weeks'.

However after some digging it became obvious the same accounts posting on their page appeared to also be targeting other local restaurants, and beyond.

One restaurant stated they had never seen anything like this. It was creative, coordinated, very organized, and technically savvy. It exposes a specific and really mean attack on independent bars and restaurants, and it could be anybody as this kind of thing is really impactful.

A Google spokesperson said that they were actively investigating the case, saying "our policies clearly state reviews must be based on real experiences, and when we find policy violations, we take swift action ranging from content removal to account suspension and even litigation."

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