Google Maps investigates extortion of restaurants with one-star user reviews

Dozens of Michelin-starred American restaurants are currently being extorted by scammers who bombard the businesses with negative reviews via Google Maps. Google is investigating the incident.

The scammers say they come from India and threaten to leave a 1-star review via Google Maps every day unless the owners of the affected restaurants pay $75 in Google Play gift cards, reports say. The New York Times. The chief of one of the affected companies, Kim Alter, shared on Twitter the threatening email she received. In it, the perpetrators apologize several times for their actions and claim to need the money to support their family.

Alter’s tweet caused Google to remove the affected user reviews. Other affected restaurants also managed to force the tech company into action through tweets and other actions on social media.

Google is investigating the scams and emphasizes to The New York Times that leaving reviews is only allowed if it is based on actual experiences. “We take prompt action if there is a violation of our terms of use. This could result in the removal of the affected reviews, an account ban or even initiation of legal action.”

Some restaurateurs, on the other hand, have criticized Google’s policies; it would be very difficult for victims to contact the company directly and flagging rogue user reviews would not always have the desired effect. Google Maps uses both human employees and algorithms to determine whether a user review is legitimate or not, so Google stated earlier this year. The scammers have apparently been able to circumvent Google’s security system so far.

Google Maps says it filters both automatically and manually for any fake reviews