Competitor Employees Leaving Fraudulent Reviews For Their Business Locations

[anthonybiondojr]

A client of mine has noticed that one of their competitors (franchise) is having all of their employees leave five star reviews on all of their Google Business Profiles for every one of their franchise locations. We've identified all of the employees, and put together a file of the employee LinkedIn profiles, and fraudulent reviews to share with Google and the Federal Trade Commission. We submitted the document through the Google Support Redressal Form process. Right now, these competitors are not operating in the same location as my client, but they are getting ready to move into the area and he is concerned these fraudulent reviews will negatively impact his business and are a clear violation of Google's TOS. I know that when you report a review Google has a link that says report for legal reasons. I'm not sure if this is the right avenue to take.

I'd like to know if anyone has dealt with this, what we could do next to get this on someone's radar at Google, and what other actions we might consider. I'd appreciate any recommendations.

 

[fisicx]

TBH there is nothing new about this. Fraudulent reviews are common place and whilst Google does remove millions of fake reviews each time they do millions more appear. The likes of @keyserholiday are fighting this tsunami all the time but now AI tools have come into being one suspects it's going to get even worse. And it's not just GBP reviews - all review platforms suffer the same problem.

 

[anthonybiondojr]

TBH there is nothing new about this. Fraudulent reviews are common place and whilst Google does remove millions of fake reviews each time they do millions more appear. The likes of @keyserholiday are fighting this tsunami all the time but now AI tools have come into being one suspects it's going to get even worse. And it's not just GBP reviews - all review platforms suffer the same problem.

Thanks, I know nothing new with this stuff happening overall. Thanks for sharing Keyser’s profile. We just don’t know how to get Google to do something about it and if that’s even possible.

 

[keyserholiday]

Thanks, I know nothing new with this stuff happening overall. Thanks for sharing Keyser’s profile. We just don’t know how to get Google to do something about it and if that’s even possible.

Please feel free to DM and I can take a look.

 

[RMortis]

BTW I have tried the legal route a few times, and they were like we need court documentation. Like THAT type of legal. Though maybe people have had alternative things happen to them.