Shakedowns To Fix Negative Online Reviews

First time accepted submitter unjedai writes "A company is putting horrible reviews of small business online, and then offering to improve the company's reputation and take the reviews off for a fraction of the cost that a real reputation improvement company would charge. Sierra West received a call from a 'reputation improvement company' telling them they had a negative review online and that the company would take the review offline if Sierra West paid $500. 'Of course when someone is offering $500 the day (the bad review) goes up seemed not legitimate.'"

Comments

It was only a matter of time

[FirephoxRising]

People and businesses value their online reputations, so these protection rackets were always going to come.

The best way to deal with this

[Anonymous Coward]

This post was removed due to Dice content standards violations.

Re:The best way to deal with this

[BasilBrush]

This post was added due to Gullibility standards violations.

Travel

[ledow]

So there are honestly people out there who read reviews from people who may not have even bought the product and consider them true?

Personally, if I were TripAdvisor, Amazon, or whatever equivalent, it would be a requirement to have actually purchased the goods you're reviewing before being allowed to post a review.

One of the websites I use for hotels does just that - unless you've booked the hotel through them and stayed there you can't post a review. I don't think a reputation-destroying service would be a viable business model (even excluding legal complications) if you had to pay your competitors in order to post a bad review on them.

And, I pay no attention to the reviews. I pay attention to the responses, if any. If a site lists your hotel (presumably WITH your permission, or you'd ask for it to be removed) and you get a bad response, you should reply to it. Like on eBay, or in real life shops, it's not what the negative comments say, it's how you deal with those complaints that matters.

Nobody runs a hotel that has never received a complaint in its entire history. But there are lots of places that receive complaints and ignore them because they just don't care.

Re:We have a word for this...

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not merely libel, it's fraud, possibly extortion, and of course, ridiculously stupid.

One day, shortly after moving into an apartment complex, this guy I've never met knocks on my door and tells me my van has a flat tire, and that, oh, BTW, he works at a nearby tire repair place, and would be happy to fix it for me, all I have to do is bring it to the shop...

Oddly enough, I had driven it the day before, and the tire was fine when I left it. I happened to have an air-pump, so I inflated it, and it seemed to hold air, it hadn't been stabbed or anything, (happily) but someone let the air out, and this guy I'd never met just happened to know that the van was associated with the resident of my apartment... and he just happened to work at a place that fixes tires... anyway, I guess he was fucking retarded, or thought I was. Needless to say, I wouldn't have dreamed of taking the tire to this guy or his shop, because this ploy was really fucking obvious.

Similarly, this ploy is pathetic, and it's shocking anyone could be dumb enough to think that it would work. Sad.

Slashdot Smells

[telchine]

I went to Slashdot and the service was terrible. They treated me badly and I think they cloned my credit card.

Right, anyone know CmdrTaco's number?

Data storage, data mining.

[Half-pint HAL]

The big problem with cyber crime is the lack of long-term storage of complaints. I got a scam email from Spain, claiming to be from a friend stranded in Madrid without a passport. I sent it on to the Guardia Civil. They sent me back a bunch of guidelines on not being scammed online.

Now, I didn't expect my single little failed fraud attempt to merit individual investigation. I had hoped that they would put it on file, and use it as supporting evidence for conspiracy in a larger case later on, but no-one tracks these things.

A group I frequent on Facebook was getting spammed for weeks by the same person advertising loans (in USD, in a group about a Scottish pub meetup). Every day, they'd get reported, and the message deleted. But even Facebook didn't seem to bother to track the individual complaints and spot the pattern.

So yes, review sites should be able to spot the pattern, but they won't. Because that costs money, and the internet is for cheapskates.

Re:Data storage, data mining.

[KiloByte]

They have absolutely zero credibility.

Fixed it for you.

what if the review site is the one cashing in?

[CdBee]

Yelp and the Business of Extortion 2.0