Google Wants To Stop The One-Star Review Scam From India
New Delhi, 19th July 2022: Before trying out any new establishment like a restaurant, salon, etc. people usually like to see it’s review on Google as Google also encourages users to post their reviews in different platforms provided by Google like Maps, Search, YouTube, etc. This ideology is to help the other customer by sharing your views and experience to make their trip better.
Due to this, a bad review can be very bad news for the businesses as the rating of the business does fall extensively due to the review. A report presented by The New York Times revealed how scammers which are mostly from India give one start ratings to businesses.
Mostly what scammers do is they post negative reviews of the businesses and then ask for a Google Play Gift to remove that review provided by them. However, if their request is not accepted, they threaten to post more negative ratings of the establishments.
The report presented by The New York Times states one email which says “We sincerely apologise for our actions, and would not want to harm your business but we have no other choice. The fact is that we live in India and see other ways to survive.”
It is seen that the scammers directly do not make any outright threats but they normally go with some emotional drama.
According to the report, the mail does not end here as the scammers literally beg for the money. “We are begging you to send us a Google Play gift card worth $75. After selling this gift card we can earn approximately $50, which is three weeks of income for one family.”
Scammers mostly use gift cards as a way of income as these are quite often hard to track back.
Negative reviews are hard to remove and any business can not remove their bad ratings without Google’s intervention. Apart from this, Google clarified that they are aware about these scammers.
“We’ve recently become aware of a scam targeting businesses on Google with the threat of 1-star reviews unless they send money via gift cards. Our teams are working around the clock to thwart these attacks, remove fraudulent reviews, and put protections on business profiles that may have been affected.”
Google has advised the businesses not to pay to these scammers after posting bad reviews. Google also advised the businesses if they want to remove these reviews as there is an option available. Google says if the option does not work then businesses are encouraged to reach out to Google.
