Over the past year, a new kind of online scam has quietly become a nightmare for small business owners: fake-review extortion.

The scheme is simple, fast-moving, and brutally effective. Businesses, including everything from dog trainers to dentists to moving companies, suddenly find themselves flooded with one-star reviews on platforms like Google Maps, often from accounts that have never interacted with the business. Shortly after the reviews appear, the owner receives a message — usually via WhatsApp, Telegram, or email — claiming the reviews were paid for and offering to remove them for a fee, typically a few hundred dollars. If the business refuses, the threat is clear: more fake reviews are on the way.

This scam is especially dangerous for small businesses because online reviews aren’t just a nice bonus anymore — they’re often the deciding factor for customers, and they can make or break your reputation. A drop from a near-perfect rating to something closer to three stars can happen overnight, and that single shift can tank search rankings, reduce foot traffic, and scare off potential customers before they even make contact. Larger companies may have marketing teams or legal departments to absorb that kind of hit, but for a local contractor, restaurant, or family-run shop, the damage can be immediate and existential.

Several business owners interviewed in recent reporting described watching years of careful reputation-building evaporate in a matter of hours. One owner of a general contracting business in Los Angeles told The New York Times that her company’s rating fell sharply after dozens of identical, vague complaints appeared almost simultaneously. When a WhatsApp message appeared telling her that an order had been placed to post 20 fake reviews, the owner paid the requested fee to have them taken down. However, instead of resolving the issue, the payment only marked her as an easy target, prompting even more review extortion attempts from various areas.

The Washington Times shared a similar situation where a small business owner realized she had been targeted with the same scam. Under her online business profile, fake reviews quickly flooded the page, some even using her name while describing completely made-up negative experiences from nonexistent customers. Yet instead of paying to have the reviews removed, she took action. She contacted a Google product expert, blocked the number, and rallied others to report the reviewer — though she admits the fear of being targeted again hasn’t gone away.

In many cases, the scammers appeared to operate from overseas, making law enforcement involvement difficult and leaving owners feeling powerless.

The scam works in part because it preys on panic. When your livelihood depends on public perception, it’s easy to believe that paying a few hundred dollars might be the fastest way to make the problem disappear. But multiple victims reported that paying didn’t stop the attacks. In some cases, it simply marked them as willing targets, leading to repeated demands or additional review floods weeks later. What initially seems like a one-time fix often turns into an ongoing shakedown.

Google has acknowledged that fake-review extortion is a growing problem and has taken steps to address it. The company has publicly warned business owners not to engage with or pay extortionists and has rolled out reporting tools specifically designed to flag review manipulation and ransom demands.

Google says it is working aggressively to remove fake reviews quickly once they’re reported. But some argue that’s not always the reality on the ground. Curtis Boyd, founder of The Transparency Company, says victims “have to be a very squeaky wheel” to get Google to take action. And while Google insists its response is fast, business owners caught in the middle of an attack may feel that the process is painfully slow when the damage is happening in real time.

Despite those efforts, the scam continues to spread because the cost to attackers is low and the payoff can be significant. Posting fake reviews requires little effort, and even a small percentage of owners giving in makes the scheme profitable. That’s why many experts argue that platform fixes alone aren’t enough. Stronger legal protection could make a real difference.

Last year, the FTC rolled out steep penalties — up to $53,000 per violation — for companies that pay for reviews of any kind, positive or negative, or post reviews that don’t come from real customers. Expanding that approach to treat review extortion as a specific criminal offense, rather than folding it into broader fraud laws, could go even further. Clearer requirements for platforms to act quickly when extortion is reported, along with stronger identity verification for reviewers, would also help curb abuse and protect legitimate businesses.

For business owners, awareness is the first line of defense. Sudden review spikes, generic complaints with no details, or messages offering “review removal services” for a fee are all red flags. Google and other platforms have been clear that legitimate companies will never demand money to remove reviews. Documenting everything, reporting through official channels, and encouraging real customers to leave honest reviews can help blunt the impact while platforms investigate.

Online reviews were meant to empower consumers, but this scam shows how easily any system can be weaponized. Without stronger safeguards, small businesses remain vulnerable to having their reputations held hostage. Better laws, faster platform responses, and informed owners won’t eliminate the problem overnight, but they can make it much harder for scammers to profit from fear and desperation.