Suspicious review pattern on a Swiss business

[MiguelP]

Hi everyone,

I am concerned about what appears to be an artificial review pattern affecting the local ranking of this Google Business Profile:

DEPANN’INFO – Dépannage informatique à Genève
https://maps.app.goo.gl/r84mwVPTttuR2HXN9

I work in the same local sector, and I am concerned because this fake-review pattern is artificially influencing the business’s local search ranking and placing legitimate, long-established businesses at a significant disadvantage.

The review texts and contributor pattern appear highly suspicious:

• This business has been operating for only around eight months, whereas several of the local competitors in the comparison have been established for approximately a decade or longer. Despite this enormous difference in operating history, the newer profile has already accumulated 116 reviews. Among eight established local businesses, the median was only 25 reviews and the average was 30.1, meaning that this eight-month-old profile already has approximately 4.6 times the local median.
• Of its 116 ratings, 114 are five-star and the remaining two are one-star, with no ratings at all between two and four stars.
• Numerous reviewers have only one to three total contributions.
• Multiple five-star reviews appear within concentrated periods.
• Several comments are generic or use unusually promotional and search-oriented wording, including service-and-location phrases such as “dépannage informatique Genève”, “récupération de données” and “assistance informatique à Genève”.
• One reviewer shares the surname of the person publicly identified as operating the business, raising a possible conflict-of-interest concern.

Taken together, the extreme volume, rating distribution, timing, wording and reviewer-account patterns suggest possible fake engagement capable of materially influencing local search visibility.

The same profile also has a documented history of using multiple fake Geneva addresses. I discussed that separate issue here:

https://localsearchforum.com/thread...ile-redressal-forms-ignored-for-months.63156/

I understand that the address history does not prove review manipulation, but it provides relevant context concerning repeated integrity concerns associated with the same profile.

I have already reported individual reviews and the overall conduct pattern. I am attaching a simple screenshot of the public Google listing showing the business name, its 4.9 rating and its current total of 116 reviews.

Could anyone advise on the most effective way to obtain a manual integrity review of the profile and its complete contribution history?

 

[ElizabethRule]

Hey there,

If you have not been able to get these reviews removed after using standard support and Google's review management tool, your next step is to post on the GBP community forum and ask a Product Expert to escalate the issue to Google.

https://support.google.com/business/thread/new

 

[MiguelP]

Thanks Elizabeth.

I actually already followed that route. I opened a thread in the Google Business Profile Community specifically about this review pattern, and after receiving no response I followed up again on September 9, explicitly asking whether a Gold or Platinum Product Expert could review the evidence and escalate the case to Google's review integrity team.

Unfortunately, I still haven't received any response or assistance there.

So at this point I'm a little stuck: I have reported individual reviews, reported the overall pattern, opened a GBP Community thread, followed it up, and documented the issue here as well.

Is there any way you could help get the case in front of a Product Expert, or advise me how to get the existing GBP Community thread actually reviewed rather than opening yet another report?

I can provide the link to the Google Community thread and any additional evidence needed.

Thank you very much for your help.

 

[ElizabethRule]

Send me a link to the thread and I will take a look!