LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Some Las Vegas Valley restaurants have become the latest target of international scammers, threatening low or one-star reviews if businesses do not comply with demands.
The National Restaurant Association warned small businesses of these criminal operations as far back as 2022.
The Nevada Restaurant Association tells FOX5, it will send out an alert to members to be aware of the scheme. Scammers ultimately ask for payments ranging from $75 to thousands of dollars.
Three restaurants across the Las Vegas Valley tell FOX5, they received a similar email that urged them to contact a scammer via email; one business received a request to contact a WhatsApp number from Poland.
“A significant number of 1-star reviews will be posted on Google, Yelp and Facebook in the coming days,” one email read, threatening 100 negative reviews if they did not respond.
Three restaurants reported an influx of one or two-star reviews, coming from newly generated accounts created by users across Southeast Asia.
The descriptions appeared to be generated by AI software: “The aforementioned gastroeconomic experience… was a colossal disappointment,” one post read.
“It tasted like regret,” another user posted.
“I found myself drowning in disappointment,” another post said, with various posts using similar phrases and descriptions.
Popular restaurants Bramàre and Partage were among those who received the emails, and want to warn fellow small businesses and customers of the fake review scheme.
“When I first saw the e-mail, I was scared because I knew that this would be coming,” said Constantin Alexander of Bramàre, which opened last year.
“Obviously it’s causing a lot of stress on our operation on us, me personally, so we’re trying to do everything we can and thankfully there’s other people who are helping,” Alexander said.
“We do everything we can to prevent that from happening to other business owners. It’s terrible. We have have so many things to deal on our own, when we are small businesses. The goal for me was really to use my time to try to help also other business owners to not be targeted, band not have to spend the time that I have to spend to report that,” said Nicolas Kalpokdjian of Partage, who reported the scheme to the FBI.
The three restaurants have urged their local customers and fans to post their positive reviews to balance out their shrinking rating on Google.
Google gave FOX5 this response to the influx of one-star Google reviews for Bramàre and Partage:
“We do not tolerate scams on Google Maps and take action ranging from content removal to account suspension to litigation. We are working quickly to take down the policy-violating reviews and have placed protections on the businesses to prevent further abuse.”
Google provided insight on reporting reviews and identifying scams.
On Yelp, posts were quickly flagged and taken down; the company tells FOX5, its software detects and tracks AI-generated posts and reviews. The company also urges businesses and consumers to report suspicious reviews.
The National Restaurant Association also provides the following guidance:
- Do not send funds to scammers or engage with them
- Report the incident to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center
- File a report with the Federal Trade Commission
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