Name: Scammers target small businesses with fake online reviews
Uploaded: 2025-12-08T18:12:40.973Z
Duration: 2 min 39 s
Description: Google says it uses advanced technology to detect fake reviews, but some experts are skeptical.

Google says it uses advanced technology to detect fake reviews, but some experts are skeptical.

Small businesses are increasingly being targeted by scammers who post fake negative reviews online and demand payment to stop. Kamal Malik, owner of Recharge Auto Spa in New Jersey, received dozens of one-star reviews and extortion threats, resulting in a sharp decline in business. 

Despite claims by Google that most fake reviews are blocked by advanced machine learning, experts remain skeptical and say current efforts are inadequate. Malik was eventually able to restore his business's reputation with the help of customers reporting the fake reviews, but some negative ratings remain on his profile.

Scammers target small businesses with fake online reviews

THERE'S A NEW SCAM TARGETING MOM AND POP BUSINESSES. NEWS 12'S WALT KANE IS IN YOUR CORNER BREAKING DOWN HOW ANONYMOUS POSTERS ARE USING BAD REVIEWS TO BLACKMAIL SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS. KAMAL MALIK, OWNER OF RECHARGE AUTO SPA IN ROCKAWAY, NEW JERSEY, PRIDES HIMSELF ON NOTHING LESS THAN A FIVE-STAR RATING. Every single customer, every single smile, every single shine that I delivered was just pure passion. And that was everything that I ever wanted to do, was just deliver a good customer experience. SO KAMAL WAS SHOCKED WHEN HE WAS HIT WITH A SERIES OF ONE-STAR REVIEWS ON GOOGLE. AND EVEN MORE SHOCKED WHEN THOSE REVIEWS CAME WITH A THREAT. He said, hey, somebody ordered 30 bad reviews on your profile, and I'm going to keep going unless you pay me. I didn't sleep that entire night. KAMAL BLOCKED THE SENDER AND NEVER SENT THE MONEY, BUT THAT WAS JUST THE BEGINNING. He kept on demanding more money, and within minutes, I was at 10, 15, 25 one-star reviews that I've never seen before. KAMAL ENDED UP WITH 48 NEGATIVE ONE-STAR REVIEWS, AND HIS BUSINESS BEGAN TO SUFFER. The phone calls completely diminished, nobody was stopping by. Someone in your corner asked Google for comment. The company did not respond. But on its website, Google claims to use advanced machine learning to detect fake reviews. In fact, it claims the majority of fake and policy-violating reviews, over 85 percent, are blocked or removed before anyone actually sees them. Some experts we talked to are skeptical about that. I'm seeing businesses all over the world being targeted by these scammers. Kadeen is a former federal agent who exposes fake reviews. She says platforms like Google aren't doing enough. Essentially, Google has a whack-a-mole approach to this really global problem. It's really inadequate. KADEEN SAYS EVEN WHEN FAKE REVIEWS ARE REMOVED, SCAMMERS CAN TYPICALLY STILL HIDE THEIR REVIEW HISTORY. THAT LETS THEM CONTINUE TO EXTORT MORE BUSINESSES. KAMAL WAS EVENTUALLY ABLE TO GET THE FAKE, NEGATIVE REVIEWS REMOVED. BUT IT TOOK A LOT OF HELP FROM HIS CUSTOMERS. I do very sincerely appreciate that they spent five minutes on each review, hitting report, doing all of the extra work, and fortunately enough, while my profile still has a few of those one-star reviews, the profile itself does show five stars again. IN YOUR CORNER, WALT KANE, NEWS 12.

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