1-Star Reviews, Then a Ransom Note: The Google Review Extortion Scam

Overnight, your 4.9 star rating drops to 3.8. A dozen one-star reviews from people you've never served. Then a message arrives. Pay $200 and they'll disappear. That's review extortion. And it's hitting small businesses right now. Hi, I'm Patch and this is Sivro. Today, review extortion. What it looks like, why paying makes it worse, and the exact

steps Google wants you to take. Here's how it works. Google describes it as a sudden jump in one-star and two-star reviews followed by someone demanding money, goods, or services to remove them. The demand usually arrives by text, email, or WhatsApp, often from a number you've never seen. Rule number one, don't pay. And don't

engage. Google says paying can encourage more attempts and it doesn't guarantee the reviews come down. Don't try to settle it yourself with money or free services, either. Rule number two, screenshot everything. Google asks for the messages with the date, the time, and the sender's number or email. Add a link to each fake review and note

when the attack started. Then report it with Google's dedicated extortion form, not just the regular flag button. It asks for your business, links to the reviews, how the scammer contacted you, and your screenshots. Google investigates and lets you know the result. The link is in the description. Google is fighting this, too. In 2025,

it blocked or removed over 292 million policy-violating reviews. And when it spots a sudden spike of spam reviews, Google says it removes them, pauses new reviews on the profile, alerts the owner, and shows customers a banner explaining why. Whatever you [snorts] do, don't fight fake reviews with fake reviews. The FTC's rule bans fake reviews and paying