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

 

[bdlowery]

It happened to me as well a month ago. I did not use the negative extortion reporting tool. All I did was go into the reviews manager and report each review as spam. 3 days later all 1 star reviews + the whatsapp 1 star review where removed.

 

[keyserholiday]

They seem to be ramping up in the past few weeks.

 

[keyserholiday]

I submitted an extortion review attack yesterday at 10:27 AM PST. Today at 6:11 AM EST, I received the alert that all 11 reviews were removed. Google hasn't deleted the profiles that left the reviews.

 

[chriscc]

That's awesome! Did you also flag the reviews individually as spam, or just do the single extortion report form?

 

[keyserholiday]

That's awesome! Did you also flag the reviews individually as spam, or just do the single extortion report form?

The agency flagged them. I doubt that had anything to do with the removal. Google is taking this attack seriously.

 

[JS Girard]

I submitted an extortion review attack yesterday at 10:27 AM PST. Today at 6:11 AM EST, I received the alert that all 11 reviews were removed. Google hasn't deleted the profiles that left the reviews.

had the user profiles been reported individually? As in in google maps app separately from the extortion report

 

[keyserholiday]

had the user profiles been reported individually? As in in google maps app separately from the extortion report

The agency flagged them. I doubt that had anything to do with the removal. Google is taking this attack seriously.

 

[JS Girard]

thanks. yeah I agree with you. I was curious since as I noted earlier I did not think of tracking the user profiles I had reported.

 

[keyserholiday]

thanks. yeah I agree with you. I was curious since as I noted earlier I did not think of tracking the user profiles I had reported.

I am tracking the user profiles. I want to see if Google is removing the reviews and/ or the account.

 

[PGFP]

Coordinated Extortion Attack - Google Removed 4 Fake Reviews But Left 2 from Identical Attack Pattern


On November 12, I reported a coordinated fake review extortion attack where six fraudulent 1-star reviews targeted our business and the entire remodeling industry in Chicago. These reviews were also posted on our competitors' pages with the same text and content, all within three hours.

One reviewer even posted a review and asked to be contacted for payment to have it removed! Their contact information was in their profile picture, soliciting payment for removal..

I have read on this forum that you can fill out a form to report this kind of scam, and I did so. Consequently, Google removed four of the six fake reviews. However, two reviews from the same attack are still live on our profile.

These remaining reviews were posted during the same time frame, follow the same pattern, and are part of the same fraudulent scheme.

What I've done:
- I have resubmitted removal requests for the remaining two reviews.
- I referenced the original case where four reviews were successfully removed.

Has anyone else experienced this? Did you manage to get partial removal from a coordinated attack? How did you get Google to remove the remaining fake reviews?

Can someone help me escalate this issue?

Here are the reviews URLS:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/rrhmJw8E3d5E25cs7?g_st=i
https://maps.app.goo.gl/rrhmJw8E3d5E25cs7?g_st=i


I am incredibly frustrated seeing so many hardworking legitimate businesses being harmed in this way! Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.