COORDINATED ATTACK: Hundreds of Fake 1-Star Reviews Hit Chicago Remodeling Industry Overnight

[PGFP]

Hello,

Last night, a coordinated group of scammers launched fake 1-star reviews against multiple home remodeling companies across Chicago. Within a 2-hour window, our business and our budinrds received multiple fraudulent reviews from accounts that have never been our clients.


We have reported this issue to Google, but the fake reviews are still visible on our profile. Any assistance you can provide to help address this situation and report these individuals would be greatly appreciated.

Here are the reviews urls:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/r6VrdEwQCVWYfPjz7
https://maps.app.goo.gl/idDUyjzH9hiMMnEQ6
https://maps.app.goo.gl/sSJWUFHVC4z8Y3qQ9
https://maps.app.goo.gl/b1sSX6QjHS6FHZvh9
https://maps.app.goo.gl/X6KUDcWfyctNDLeA6


Thank you!

 

[Glass]

There’s another new thread talking about this review extortion. You’ll find a link to the proper reporting page on Google.

https://localsearchforum.com/threads/1-star-review-extortion.62885/

 

[chriscc]

Hello,

Last night, a coordinated group of scammers launched fake 1-star reviews against multiple home remodeling companies across Chicago. Within a 2-hour window, our business and our budinrds received multiple fraudulent reviews from accounts that have never been our clients.


We have reported this issue to Google, but the fake reviews are still visible on our profile. Any assistance you can provide to help address this situation and report these individuals would be greatly appreciated.

Here are the reviews urls:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/r6VrdEwQCVWYfPjz7
https://maps.app.goo.gl/idDUyjzH9hiMMnEQ6
https://maps.app.goo.gl/sSJWUFHVC4z8Y3qQ9
https://maps.app.goo.gl/b1sSX6QjHS6FHZvh9
https://maps.app.goo.gl/X6KUDcWfyctNDLeA6


Thank you!

Do you want to share the number/email that the scammers asked you to contact (and assuming forum mods are fine with that)? I'm curious whether the groups are linked

 

[PGFP]

All of the reviews were removed

My business was targeted again today with 10 fake reviews, each rated at 3 stars, from the same attacker. These scammers use bots to post these fraudulent reviews and then offer to remove them if I pay. This is the second time this month that I’ve faced this issue.

I was able to resolve the first incident within 48 hours and now I hope to receive help from the forum to report this and escalate it to the appropriate people who can assist with removing these reviews.

We are a Chicago-based contractor, and this is the second time this month that we are dealing with these scammers.

Please help us report this and escalate the case.

Case ID: 2-1180000039563

 

[keyserholiday]

All of the reviews were removed

 

[SEO]

My business was targeted again today with 10 fake reviews, each rated at 3 stars, from the same attacker. These scammers use bots to post these fraudulent reviews and then offer to remove them if I pay. This is the second time this month that I’ve faced this issue.

I was able to resolve the first incident within 48 hours and now I hope to receive help from the forum to report this and escalate it to the appropriate people who can assist with removing these reviews.

We are a Chicago-based contractor, and this is the second time this month that we are dealing with these scammers.

Please help us report this and escalate the case.

Case ID: 2-1180000039563

I noticed the negative reviews were removed. That is excellent news. My client, a local trade business, just received seven fake negative reviews in only a few hours. This was followed by a WhatsApp message warning that "someone" had hired him to post 30 negative reviews on his GBP. I told him to save the message but not to respond. I'm familiar with the steps required to remedy this problem, but I would appreciate it very much if you could share the precise method(s) you used to have the negative reviews removed.