Review extortion: what to do when someone demands money.

What review extortion looks like

Google describes the usual pattern: a sudden increase in one-star and two-star reviews, followed by someone demanding money, goods or services in exchange for removing them. Sometimes the order is reversed, and the threat comes first.

The demand typically arrives by email or a messaging app. The reviews themselves are fake: the accounts behind them were never your customers.

First: don’t pay, don’t engage

Google’s guidance is direct. Do not engage with the people behind it, and do not pay them. Paying does not guarantee that the reviews come down, and it can encourage further attempts.

• Don’t reply to the message, not even to refuse.
• Don’t negotiate, and don’t ask for proof.
• Don’t offer anything else instead.
• Don’t delete the messages. They are your evidence.

Collect the evidence, now

Google says the sooner you collect proof, the better. Reviews, accounts and messages can be deleted.

• Screenshots of every demand, showing dates, times and the sender’s contact details: email address, phone number or social media profile.
• Direct links to each suspicious review, and a screenshot of each.
• Any names, usernames, email addresses or phone numbers linked to the people making the demands.
• A timeline: when the negative reviews started, when the first demand arrived, and any earlier attempts.

Report it to Google

Google has a dedicated process for review extortion scams, separate from normal review reporting.

1. Open the merchant extortion report form, linked from Google’s help page.
2. Give your contact details and your relationship to the business.
3. Give the business name, address and Business Profile link.
4. Describe the suspicious reviews, and how you were contacted.
5. Attach your screenshots and files, and submit.

Google’s team investigates and tells you the outcome. It does not share details of the investigation.

The form is only for cases where you received a demand. A wave of fake reviews with no demand goes through normal reporting.

What else to do

• Go to the police. Demanding money under threat is a crime. A report to the police, or to your national fraud reporting service, also puts the attack on record.
• Tell your team. Anyone who answers email, phones or social media should know not to reply.
• Hold off on public replies until your report is filed. After that, one neutral line under each review is enough: you have no record of the visit, and the review has been reported.
• Keep asking real customers for reviews. Genuine reviews soften the damage while Google investigates.

If there is no demand

Not every attack comes with a price. A wave of reviews after a viral post, a dispute or a grudge looks the same on your profile, with no message attached. Those reviews are reported one by one, under the policies they break. See how to spot and report fake reviews.

If you want someone to handle it

Our review-attack response usually starts the same business day. We log every fake review with evidence, file the reports through Google’s official channels, guide you through the extortion report, and follow up until each case is closed. You pay per review removed, and nothing for reviews that stay up.