Nikolas Lemmel mentions that his reputation management firm, Maximatic Media, was contacted by a London eatery – which wishes to remain anonymous – after becoming aware of their business under siege by online thugs. He recounts that a stunned restaurant owner awoke to find her Google rating plummeted from 4.9 to 2.3 due to a flood of one-star reviews almost overnight.
The harsh reviews claimed that the independent restaurant was racist, caused food poisoning for patrons, and provided universally poor service. Shortly after, the owner received an anonymous email from the review-bombing syndicate, taking responsibility and demanding payment of £10,000 in Bitcoin cryptocurrency. He clarifies that the attackers utilized AI-operated bot farms globally to mislead Google, making it appear as if they were authentic customers submitting reviews from a smartphone in London.
Maximatic Media coordinated with Google to eliminate the fraudulent reviews and devised a digital strategy that motivated loyal patrons to leave positive feedback. It is reported that they restored the restaurant’s Google profile to a 4.8-star rating within a month, and the establishment has not heard from the gang since. Google asserts that they employ a mixture of technology, expert analysis, and community reports to counter fraudulent content, insisting that offenders risk account suspension or even legal repercussions.
Nikolas observes a troubling increase in automated assaults which jeopardize livelihoods. He cautions, however, that there isn’t much actionable advice to prevent such attacks, urging internet users to hope they do not fall victim to similar events. Nikolas stated: “Typically, we witness competitors trying to tarnish a business’s reputation among local customers, but this was an external entity. They were seeking money to eliminate these damaging reviews.
“They operated much like a review-destroying mafia. They utilized bot farms to conceal the IP addresses of their accounts and imitate a mobile device situated in the vicinity of the restaurant. In standard circumstances, if someone were to post a review from another country, it would be easier to remove it. However, this situation was far more complex. The owner was incredibly grateful that we managed to remove all those reviews and that she resisted the extortion attempt.
“There weren’t numerous preventive measures she could have implemented to fend off the review-bombing mafia from ravaging her rating. There’s little one can do aside from hoping to not be on the receiving end of this type of attack. It’s alarming. Unless your business is linked to the IT sector, navigating this is beyond the capabilities of many individuals, which makes it challenging to identify the source or how to hinder it. It is crucial for individuals to consult specialists in such scenarios since responses need to be tailored based on the specific situation.”
If a business accumulates hundreds of reviews in mere seconds, that is a blatant indicator that it is likely under attack by an automated system. Established in 2020, Maximatic Media was designed to assist small enterprises in managing their online personas through targeted public relations strategies. Nikolas mentions that they have recently amplified their crisis management initiatives to counter malicious online actors leveraging modern technology against businesses. He reveals that while they collaborated with Google to eliminate negative reviews, the AI mafia continued their onslaught but eventually subsided over time.
The owner was advised to issue a statement on social media detailing the circumstance and to reach out to loyal patrons with incentives to rally her during these turbulent times. Fresh positive reviews played a significant role in reversing the narrative against the attackers and helped restore the restaurant’s standing for the appreciative owner. Nikolas believes many platforms and websites currently lack the infrastructure to address sophisticated AI-driven assaults and fears these attacks are evolving in complexity.
Nikolas stated: “We have observed an uptick in these types of situations where businesses are repetitively confronting these threats that jeopardize their survival. It is an area in which many sites and platforms are striving for improvement, but unfortunately, the attacks are simultaneously becoming increasingly intricate and advanced, creating an ongoing struggle to keep pace.”
A Google spokesperson stated: “Our policies unequivocally mandate that reviews must be grounded in genuine experiences and facts, and we leverage a combination of technology, expert analysts, and community reports to monitor fraudulent activity. When we identify scammers attempting to deceive users, we take measures ranging from content removal to account suspension and even legal action.”
You can discover further information at the Maximatic Media website.
