Business blatantly paying for reviews - Google did nothing even after reporting

[Durandl]

Someone reached out to me for help as one of their client's competitors blatantly paid to collect google reviews.
Before reporting the listing I did some due diligence to verify it was true. I found some irrefutable proof it indeed was the case.
I raised a ticket with Google support which included all the necessary details, screenshots, names of reviewers, web pages, reviews audit results and more. A month went by and no action has been taken from Google.
I raised a ticket with the Google Business Profile community for help. No answer there either.
What does one need to do? Maybe buying reviews is the way forward after all.
If anyone could help it would be great. Here is the case n#6-2929000031905 and the support thread

Business blatantly paying for reviews - Google Did nothing even after reporting - Google Business Profile Community

Many thanks

 

[dgrunited]

Turn the tables on them by buying reviews for them. However, you'll need to intensify the effort by getting them a 100 reviews within a day over a period of 7 days. That will trigger the alarms in Google & get them canned for life.

 

[Durandl]

Turn the tables on them by buying reviews for them. However, you'll need to intensify the effort by getting them a 100 reviews within a day over a period of 7 days. That will trigger the alarms in Google & get them canned for life.

Really? Have you done this before? Surely I shouldn't have to spend money to buy fake reviews to flag a competitor who doesn't stick to the guidelines. Seems a bit counterproductive to me

 

[JoyHawkins]

Turn the tables on them by buying reviews for them.

I'm no lawyer but I would never suggest doing this. It screams opening up yourself to liablity. I'm also not a fan of repaying evil with evil.

@Durandl I will escalate that thread to Google. They are painfully slow processing review requests so you're probably looking at a 4-6 week turaround time.

 

[Durandl]

I'm no lawyer but I would never suggest doing this. It screams opening up yourself to liablity. I'm also not a fan of repaying evil with evil.

@Durandl I will escalate that thread to Google. They are painfully slow processing review requests so you're probably looking at a 4-6 week turaround time.

Many thanks Joy

 

[Durandl]

Many thanks Joy

@JoyHawkins

Hi Joy
I just wanted to let you know as of today the number of reviews for this business has gone from 425 to 264 which is what it was before they paid for reviews.
It didn't take 8 weeks after all. I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you very much for your support.
A true fan of your work

 

[itstaymc]

How do you spot a fake review? I feel some of our competitors are doing this...

 

[JoyHawkins]

@itstaymc one of our newest sponsors has a tool I've been using a ton lately. You can see the details here: Ready to Take Target Practice on Businesses with Fake Reviews?