Online reviews can make or break a business.
Before visiting a restaurant, salon or retail store, many customers check its Google rating. A sudden flood of one-star reviews can therefore damage public confidence, even when the complaints do not come from genuine customers.
Scammers are now attempting to exploit that dependence on online ratings.
Several businesses in Singapore have reported receiving suspicious one-star Google reviews before being contacted by strangers offering to remove negative reviews. In some cases, the people contacting the businesses claimed payment would be required only after the reviews disappeared.
Google has an official name for this type of attack: negative review extortion.
Here is how the scam works, which Singapore businesses have reportedly been targeted and what business owners should do when it happens.
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Sommar Beauty Spa Received Dubious One-Star Reviews
In June 2026, local beauty chain Sommar Beauty Spa reported receiving suspicious one-star ratings on its Google Maps listings.
The chain’s co-founder said the business received a WhatsApp message on 8 June from someone claiming to be a “Google review removal expert”.
The message included screenshots of negative reviews posted on the spa’s Google Maps pages and offered to have them removed. The telephone number used to contact the business appeared to originate from Pakistan.
Sommar Beauty Spa did not respond to the offer.
Shortly afterwards, more dubious negative reviews began appearing across the chain’s listings. Its Star Vista branch received the largest number of suspicious reviews. Many were one-star ratings without any written comments, while some of the accounts had apparently posted no other Google reviews.
The business checked its appointment, customer and payment records but was unable to identify many of the reviewers as genuine customers.
This was an important warning sign. Genuine negative reviews would usually contain details such as the treatment received, the date of the appointment, the therapist involved or a specific complaint about the customer’s experience.
Sommar Beauty Spa received further messages on 11 and 13 June containing screenshots of negative reviews and renewed offers to remove them. Although the sender had not explicitly demanded payment at that stage, the pattern raised concerns that the business was being pressured into purchasing a review-removal service.
The spa submitted a Merchant Extortion Report to Google. Google subsequently removed two of the suspicious reviews, while the matter was also reported to the police.
Gain City Outlets Were Also Affected
Electrical and electronics retailer Gain City reported a similar experience.
A showroom manager was approached through WhatsApp by someone claiming to have noticed Google Maps reviews that could be harming customer trust and affecting sales.
The sender claimed to specialise in identifying and reporting reviews that violated Google’s policies. According to the offer, Gain City would only have to make payment after the negative reviews had been successfully removed.
Similar messages were subsequently received by employees at other Gain City locations. At the same time, the company noticed an increase in suspicious one-star ratings over a two-week period.
Several affected reviews contained no written comments. Some were also posted from accounts for which the Gain City rating appeared to be the only review they had ever submitted.
The affected locations included Gain City’s Sungei Kadut megastore and its showrooms in Ang Mo Kio, Marina Square, IMM and Tampines 1.
The messages were sent to showroom telephone numbers publicly displayed on the company’s Google Business Profiles.
Gain City chose not to engage with the senders. It reported the suspicious activity to Google, worked with the platform to review the affected listings and lodged a police report.
Restaurant Ibid Was Targeted in 2025
These were not the first reported cases in Singapore.
In November 2025, Restaurant Ibid, which is owned by inaugural MasterChef Asia winner Woo Wai Leong, was hit by 11 suspicious negative reviews within around 24 to 36 hours.
Woo said the reviews came from questionable accounts and were extremely generic. They contained few details about the restaurant’s food, employees or dining experience.
After the first few reviews appeared, the restaurant received a WhatsApp message from an overseas number. The sender included a screenshot of the reviews and claimed that another 300 negative reviews had been ordered.
The message then asked whether the restaurant wanted the reviews taken down. Although the sender had not initially stated a specific price, the approach appeared designed to pressure the restaurant into paying to stop or remove the reviews.
What Is Negative Review Extortion?
Negative review extortion generally begins with a coordinated attack on a business’s online profile.
Scammers use accounts to post fake one-star or two-star reviews. Once the business notices the sudden decline in its rating, someone contacts its owner or employees.
The sender may openly demand money to stop the reviews. In other cases, the person presents themselves as a review-removal specialist who conveniently appears just after the suspicious reviews begin.
The offer may sound relatively safe because the business is told that no upfront payment is required. However, the scammers may control or be connected to the accounts posting the reviews, allowing them to remove the ratings after receiving payment.
Paying them could also demonstrate that the business is willing to cooperate, potentially resulting in further reviews and demands.
Google identified negative review extortion as a growing scam trend in its November 2025 fraud and scams advisory. It described how scammers may first “review-bomb” a business before contacting its owner and demanding payment to stop or remove the attack.
Fake Reviews Are a Global Problem
Negative review extortion is not limited to Singapore.
Businesses in other countries have reported being flooded with negative ratings before receiving messages demanding money, gift cards or other forms of payment.
In one reported case, a Los Angeles contractor received a WhatsApp message from a Pakistan-based number claiming that someone had ordered 20 negative reviews to be posted against her business. Similar reviewing accounts were reportedly found targeting unrelated businesses in different parts of the United States.
Restaurants across cities including San Francisco, Chicago, Houston and New York have also been targeted by organised one-star review attacks and demands for payment.
The wider problem of fake reviews has also attracted attention from governments.
Following an investigation by the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority, Google agreed to strengthen its processes for detecting and removing fraudulent reviews. This included warning labels and other sanctions for businesses found to be manipulating their ratings, as well as bans for people who repeatedly post fake reviews.
The authority estimated that as much as £23 billion of consumer spending in the United Kingdom could be influenced by online reviews each year.
What Businesses Should Do When Targeted
Google has created a dedicated reporting process for businesses experiencing negative review extortion.
The first and most important step is not to engage with or pay the people making the offer or demand.
Google warns that paying does not guarantee the removal of the reviews. It could instead encourage the scammers to continue or return with further demands.
Businesses should then preserve as much evidence as possible.
This includes taking screenshots of:
- The suspicious reviews
- The reviewers’ account information
- WhatsApp or Telegram conversations
- Emails and payment demands
- Telephone numbers and usernames
- The dates and times when the reviews and messages appeared
Businesses should also save direct links to the questionable reviews whenever possible.
The suspicious reviews can be individually flagged through Google Maps. However, businesses facing a coordinated extortion attempt should also use Google’s dedicated Merchant Extortion report form.
The form allows the business to provide information about its affected Google Business Profile, the suspicious reviews, the people making the demands and the methods they used to contact the business.
Google advises businesses to attach screenshots and other files that clearly demonstrate the relationship between the reviews and the extortion attempt.
Affected businesses may also consider making a police report, particularly when the messages contain direct threats, demands for payment or promises of further attacks.
