Google vs. Review Bombing
New tools to fight extortion – finally
Avid readers of or blog may recall back in 2022 when we wrote a piece on a new trend of fraudsters using fake negative reviews to extort restaurants. That article was followed just a few weeks later by a piece about a local restaurant who had fallen victim to this scheme.
If you don’t know, what is now called “review bombing” works in one of two ways: the fraudsters either put a small but concerning amount of negative reviews on a business’ Google Maps listing, and threaten to continue adding more if the business doesn’t pay a ransom, or, they flood the business’ Google Maps with negative reviews, and demand a ransom to remove them.
Either way, restaurants were the obvious first target for this scam, as they operate with lots of competition, and live and die by reviews. But all modern businesses rely on good reviews to some extent, and review bombers have expanded their target range to pretty much any business.
And up until recently, there wasn’t much you could do about it. Businesses were told to report it to the FBI, and to report the fraudulent reviews to Google. Unfortunately, that was not always as easy as it sounds. Affected businesses faced hurdle after hurdle in figuring out how to report the reviews, and then some having to prove they were false. For many businesses it was easier just to pay the ransom.
Until Now.
Just yesterday, (November 6, 2025) in their November Fraud and Scams Advisory Notice, Google announced a new tool in the fight against Review Bombing.
Google says:
Google Maps has clear policies prohibiting fake engagement, harassment, extortion and other harmful content — and we actively monitor for, block and remove violations. As part of our ongoing investments to fight bad actors, we are currently rolling out a new way for merchants to directly report extortion attempts to us so that we can take swift action against malicious actors.
Google is rolling out a new form for reporting extortion, as well as outlining some clear instructions on what to do if your business is affected.
Google also suggests:
To protect your business from negative review extortion, never engage with the bad actors or pay the ransom, as this only encourages further attacks. Instead, immediately report the malicious activity using the official merchant extortion report form, and be sure to preserve all records (screenshots, emails, chat logs) of their demands as evidence for law enforcement.
