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

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.

 

[keyserholiday]

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

Nope, it is real people creating Gmail accounts and copying and pasting the reviews.

 

[chriscc]

Hi all, happy to report that all the fake 1-star reviews have been removed, and the scammer has not been paid. Seems like the new "extortion report" form did the trick, so thanks for the pointer there.

A couple of small tips for anyone else facing this:

1. Despite online advice to the contrary, I think it's best not to reply to the fake reviews until you've gone through the removal process. The scammer receives notification of any reply and that tells him that you care, and wish for the review to be removed: his cue to offer to "help remove them". IMO it's better to appear un-bothered initially

2. The "extortion reporting tool" requires you to submit evidence of extortion (emails, DMs). This is tricky because it means you need to engage with the attacker, to the point where he clearly asks for money in exchange for removal of the reviews. That will be your "smoking gun" to submit to Google, but also means that the attacker has your details, and to him you appeared willing to pay. The only easy part is that he will be in a hurry to get paid because he knows that the regular spam reports might only take 48hrs, so can't be too coy about trying to extort you. Bit of a messed up system but here we are!

 

[rustybrick]

Super cool to hear - anyone else try this form and have any experience with it?

 

[Jason Wortham]

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!

Ugh, no email confirmation or case number upon reporting definitely makes it feel as though it's gone into a black hole.

Glad to hear the reviews came down. Did you receive any email confirmation/notification from Google that they were removed as a result of your reporting through that new tool or did you just notice the reviews were gone?

 

[chriscc]

Ugh, no email confirmation or case number upon reporting definitely makes it feel as though it's gone into a black hole.

Glad to hear the reviews came down. Did you receive any email confirmation/notification from Google that they were removed as a result of your reporting through that new tool or did you just notice the reviews were gone?

No email at all, but they came down in one go. The form also had no way of attaching multiple files so I had to make a mini presentation! Hopefully just teething. Would be great if you could see it as a "pending case" on a dashboard, like when a spam review is reported

 

[keyserholiday]

Hi all, happy to report that all the fake 1-star reviews have been removed, and the scammer has not been paid. Seems like the new "extortion report" form did the trick, so thanks for the pointer there.

A couple of small tips for anyone else facing this:

1. Despite online advice to the contrary, I think it's best not to reply to the fake reviews until you've gone through the removal process. The scammer receives notification of any reply and that tells him that you care, and wish for the review to be removed: his cue to offer to "help remove them". IMO it's better to appear un-bothered initially

2. The "extortion reporting tool" requires you to submit evidence of extortion (emails, DMs). This is tricky because it means you need to engage with the attacker, to the point where he clearly asks for money in exchange for removal of the reviews. That will be your "smoking gun" to submit to Google, but also means that the attacker has your details, and to him you appeared willing to pay. The only easy part is that he will be in a hurry to get paid because he knows that the regular spam reports might only take 48hrs, so can't be too coy about trying to extort you. Bit of a messed up system but here we are!

1. I am not sure the people posting the reviews are checking their emails. That is why they are asking people to message them via WhatsApp. I suspect a different team is checking and replying to those messages.

2. All you need is to upload the image for the extortion. You don't need to communicate with them.

 

[chriscc]

1. I spoke to another UK business owner who'd received 1-star reviews on the day after I did, who said they'd contacted the business mobile directly as soon as she replied to one review saying it was a fake to be ignored! Anecdotal I know, but that's all I've got; I never replied to mine.

2. What image do you mean? One of the reviews was a "contact me" message; the others all could appear (to someone with a strong tolerance for obviously made-up names) to be legitimate. The form did ask for "clear screenshots of emails or chat conversations showing the demands"

Thanks!
C

 

[keyserholiday]

1. I spoke to another UK business owner who'd received 1-star reviews on the day after I did, who said they'd contacted the business mobile directly as soon as she replied to one review saying it was a fake to be ignored! Anecdotal I know, but that's all I've got; I never replied to mine.

2. What image do you mean? One of the reviews was a "contact me" message; the others all could appear (to someone with a strong tolerance for obviously made-up names) to be legitimate. The form did ask for "clear screenshots of emails or chat conversations showing the demands"

Thanks!
C

1. That’s interesting. Even if you reply and they contact you, you still have evidence of the extortion scam.

2. All you need is one image asking you to contact them.