LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – The FBI in Las Vegas urges all small business owners to take precautions against cyber criminals and report any threats, as several restaurants become the latest target of online scammers.
FOX5 told you about the scheme: scammers ask for payments ranging from $75 to thousands of dollars, or restaurants will be bombarded with fake one or two-star reviews on various platforms. The reviews will continue until the victimized business complies with the scammers’ demands.
Three restaurants across the Las Vegas Valley tell FOX5, they received a similar email that urged them to contact a scammer via email and contact a WhatsApp number from Poland.
After the business owners did not engage, a follow-up email had an ominous tone: “Be careful. We have all the time.”
The reviews were flagged by Yelp and removed quickly; Google placed protections on the restaurants’ pages, and all fake reviews were soon taken down.
Two of the restaurants told FOX5, they filed a report online with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.
The FBI’s Las Vegas Division explains why small businesses have become the latest target of these scammers, who could come from organized networks or even individuals in prison.
“It’s financially motivated. They know if you target enough people, you’ll be able to find a subset that will fall victim to your scam,” said Special Agent in Charge Spencer Evans.
“A lot of times they prey on peoples’ insecurities and vulnerabilities. There’s an urgency to the message. There’s language that makes it seem like something horrible is going to happen if the person doesn’t take action,” Evans said, noting that AI tools are helping foreign scammers sound more legitimate.
If you receive these emails, do not open them, or even call: you could unknowingly install malware on your computer, or give them access to your information. Always report any emails or threats to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.
“If we can find common trends among groups that are targeting businesses, it makes it much easier to open an investigation and hold ultimately hold those accountable,” Evans said.
Just as large corporations or government agencies have fallen victim to cyber extortion or phishing schemes, small businesses need to take the appropriate precautions and train their employees with good “cyber hygeine”: using caution when opening emails from strangers, changing passwords regularly, and even protecting your personal information — especially if you are a business owner.
“Make sure that there’s a clear dividing line between your personal information and your business information. A lot of times, because of what can be found in open source, a small business owner could be manipulated by a sophisticated scammer who’s done a little bit of research and can threaten the employee or the business owner,” Evans said.
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