Business paying for fake 5 star reviews on Google Maps

[JesseJamesWest]

CASE ID: [3-5931000040990]

Hello,

I am writing to you because I conducted an in-depth investigation into a business that I believe has been buying fake 5-star reviews in bulk since 2023.
At the end of my investigation, I reported this to Google through the Business Redressal Form and attached my evidence.

Today, it has been four months, and so far, Google has taken 0 action. It honestly makes me wonder whether buying fake reviews is allowed.

Link to all the evidence : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HKpGcV9KGCerdnf9fQQq_a_B4vSTYwbDqlwobCL0PaE/edit?usp=sharing

During my investigation, I was able to identify part of a network of accounts. I found 95 accounts that reviewed the exact same businesses on Google Maps across France, despite the geographical distances involved. For example, 32 people who reviewed this business also reviewed the same clairvoyance business in northern France, and 21 reviewed the same locksmith/glazier business.

Is it normal for Google to take no action after 4 months ? What more can I do?

I doubt that most reports are as detailed as mine, with an investigation, screenshots, linguistic analysis, identification of part of the account network, analysis of the account profiles, and so on.
Despite all this, Google has still done nothing four months later.

Thank you for your help!

 

[fisicx]

There are millions of fake reviews reported daily. And for every million taken down another million are posted.

Google may not even have read your report. It's an automated process (probably with some AI bot doing thing), no humans ever get involved. Something might happen one day. Or it might not. I wouldn't hold my breath hoping for a result. It's something @keyserholiday knows a lot more about than I do.

 

[JesseJamesWest]

There are millions of fake reviews reported daily. And for every million taken down another million are posted.

Google may not even have read your report. It's an automated process (probably with some AI bot doing thing), no humans ever get involved. Something might happen one day. Or it might not. I wouldn't hold my breath hoping for a result. It's something @keyserholiday knows a lot more about than I do.Thank you for your reply!

Thank you for your reply!

Before conducting my investigation, I never would have imagined the scale of fake review fraud on Google Maps, nor how unclear Google’s reporting systems are for this kind of abuse and how slow their teams can be.

I thought that if I was able to find all these pieces of evidence and anomalies myself, Google would be able to detect them even more effectively. Apparently, that does not seem to be the case.

At this point, I honestly feel like all the investigative work I have done over several months has not led to anything so far.