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What if your restaurant is threatened with a one-star Google review?

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No matter how impeccable service a restaurant provides, chances are it will still receive negative online reviews from time to time. Recently, some top-rated restaurants in San Francisco and New York, including those with Michelin stars, began receiving a blitz of one-star ratings on Google with no description or photos (Morales, 2022). The owners believed those leaving one-star ratings had never dined in their establishments. Moreover, soon after the reviews, they all received emails from the reviewers who claimed the responsibility.  

 

What did the reviewers want by leaving one-star Google ratings? 

 

The reviewers asked the restaurants to pay them a $75 Google Play gift card before they would remove the ratings. If they did not receive the gift card, they would add more bad ratings to the business. 

 

How did the restaurants respond to those negative reviews? 

 

One owner tweeted about her experience to Google as a complaint. Google removed the one-star ratings for her. Another restaurant got those one-star reviews taken down after its customers outcried on social media. Not all restaurants are that lucky, however. Some had difficulty reaching out to Google or having Google remove the negative comments. The scammers also send follow-up emails:

 

“We can keep doing this indefinitely. Is $75 worth more to you than a loss to the business?”

 

What can be done with this kind of cybercrime? 

 

If targeted, I will not suggest any restaurants to even think about paying the $75 gift card as requested. Instead, they should immediately report the incident to Google, local police departments, or even the FBI and the Federal Trade Commission. It is critical to keep a photocopy of all reports being filed. Referring to my research studies about online reviews, I also recommend the following actions: 

 

  • Be open to its stakeholders about the incident on the restaurant’s website and on every social media outlet or through email marketing. 
  • Publish all updates about the incident through the same marketing communication channels (e.g., sharing the police report). 
  • Encourage satisfied and repeat customers to post positive reviews and let them be advocates for the business. 
  • Respond to all one-star reviews with facts. The restaurant may confront the reviewer if it looks like a fake review and asks for more details about the complaint. Suppose a real customer leaves a negative review. In that case, the restaurant should tell the public that they have taken specific actions to address the service failure issue.

 

Let’s hope we can find a solution to stop this kind of cybercrime soon. What suggestions will you make to address this issue?  

 

References

 

Morales, Christina (July 13, 2022). Restaurants face an extortion threat: Bad Google reviews. The New York Times. Available via https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/11/dining/google-one-star-review-scam-restaurants.html

The picture was downloaded from Adriot.In.

This viewpoint was first published in the Hospitality News Magazine. 
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Comments

  1. Bryanda RangelNovember 20, 2022 at 6:08 PM

    A restaurants ratings going down due to cybercrime is not surprising when it comes to the internet we know today. This can ruin a restaurants business and the owners can lose a lot of money if they do not oblige to the scammers. I believe another way that a restaurant can take charge is by making it known to their customers that there are scammers dropping their ratings. This can be done by posting a poster inside the restaurant, by including another poster as part of their pictures on google. A restaurant can also see if there is a reoccurring them of when they post, so they know when to expect it. Contacting Google repeatedly until they help can also be beneficial.
    HRT3500.02

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  2. Priscilla EaNovember 21, 2022 at 11:00 PM

    HRT 3500 Section 2
    Let’s hope we can find a solution to stop this kind of cybercrime soon. What suggestions will you make to address this issue?

    The internet is a powerful tool, especially within the restaurant industry. When it comes to Yelp and Google Reviews, most people are compelled to leave a review if they had a negative experience. But with actual threats of bringing down a business with fake reviews, this can be a problem for restaurants. The best solution to this problem is to address those fake reviews with real facts. What my general manager does in a similar situation is that he often tells them to elaborate and reach back to him. Another solution is to counter these negative reviews with positive reviews. It may be hard to get people to review in the first place. The hotel restaurant I work at currently has promos in place where if people review using a qr code, they can enter in a giveaway to win a free stay at the hotel.

    ReplyDelete

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