Scammers are extorting small businesses worldwide by threatening to flood their Google Maps profiles with fake one-star reviews or demanding payment to remove reviews already posted, according to The New York Times. Fraudsters target service businesses dependent on online ratings — movers, roofers, contractors — demanding hundreds of dollars per incident. The Times story documents many cases, including of one Los Angeles contractor Natalia Piper, who paid $250 to multiple scammers after her rating plummeted from 5.0 to 3.6 stars.
Industry watchdog Fake Review Watch documented over 150 affected businesses globally. The scammers typically operate from Pakistan and Bangladesh using WhatsApp to contact victims.
Source: Small Businesses Face a New Threat: Pay Up or Be Flooded With Bad Reviews
NB The article says that Google will remove fake reviews, but my experience is that there is a non-transparent review process that takes over half a year and then ends up with no removal (despite all the reviews placed by the reviewers being negative and repetitive, eg. saying things like “does not pay bills”) with absolutely no recourse.
Robin Edgar
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