1-star review extortion

[chriscc]

Hi all!

We have received five 1-star reviews this evening, all fake (see pic 1). The profiles of the reviewers urge us to contact them (see pic 2) by whatsapp and provide a number (+923444837972) or by email (shanowdd@gmail.com). The same number and email appear appear on the profiles of 3 of the 5 fake reviewers, and two of them have identical profile pics, so we know they are connected.

We have not contacted them as it is an obvious attempt at extortion (and presumably if you pay these people once they just come back for more?). I wanted to share their info above, and a quick Google for that Whatsapp/email reveals other business owners have received the same threat

I have flagged all five reviews as fake and also posted on the GBP community forum here:
https://support.google.com/business/thread/386338789/1-star-review-extortion-attempt

One of the reviews can be seen here:
https://www.google.com/maps/reviews...try=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MTEwNS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw==

Hopefully this post gets indexed and anyone searching for the scammers' number/email will land here too!

Obviously if there is anything else we should be doing, please let me know

Thank you

 

[rustybrick]

report it at https://support.google.com/business/answer/16404809

 

[chriscc]

report it at https://support.google.com/business/answer/16404809

Thank you I didn't know that tool existed! I have made a report there too.

 

[keyserholiday]

Thank you I didn't know that tool existed! I have made a report there too.

Yep, Google rolled out this tool to deal with these extortion attacks.

 

[fisicx]

Are these scams automated? By that I mean it's bots creating profiles are posting reviews.

 

[chriscc]

I couldn't say for sure, but my guess is that these small-ish ones of half a dozen reviews targeting well-rated small businesses are "manual". The review text itself is at least somewhat targeted towards the business it's attacking (so not totally generic "bad customer service" or something). The amount sought is ~$100 and by bank transfer not crypto, so I think this one is relatively small scale. Doesn't make it any less frustrating.

Let's see how quick the new "extortion report tool" is! It doesn't result in a ticket number (or even email confirmation) so not a great start. C'mon Google!

 

[rustybrick]

The form is pretty new. Let me know how it goes please.