Google review extortion: what to do when someone demands money

What to do in the first hour

Review extortion works on panic: the reviews land, your rating drops, and a message offers to make it all go away for a fee. Work through this list in order. None of it costs anything.

1. Do not reply to the demand and do not pay. If you have already replied, stop now. Tell anyone who answers your phone, email or social media inbox to do the same.
2. Screenshot every message. Make sure the date, time and the sender's details (email address, phone number, username or profile link) are visible.
3. Screenshot each suspect review and copy the direct link to it.
4. Write down two times: when you first noticed the spike in bad reviews, and when the first demand arrived.
5. Report it to Google on the merchant extortion report form, signed in to the account that manages your Business Profile.
6. Report each review through the Reviews Management Tool as well.
7. Report it to the police. Call 101, or 999 if anyone is threatened with violence.

How Google review extortion scams work

Google describes the pattern in its help page on extortion scams:

"These scams may involve a sudden increase in 1-star and 2-star reviews on your Google Business Profile, followed by someone demanding money, goods or services in exchange for removing the negative reviews."

Google Business Profile Help, Report negative review extortion scams

The reviews usually come first, so that the threat is already real when the message arrives. They may be very short or have no text at all, come from accounts with few other reviews, and appear within a few days of each other. For example, a profile might suddenly show a run of reviews like these (the names and wording are made up):

The demand then arrives by email, text, social media or a messaging app. Google mentions WhatsApp and Telegram by name. Some messages are open threats. Others pose as a "reputation service" that has noticed your bad reviews and can remove them for a fee. Either way, the offer is to stop or undo an attack in return for payment. An illustrative example:

A sudden wave of one-star reviews with no demand attached is still worth acting on, but it is review bombing rather than extortion. Our page on fake Google reviews covers that.

Why you should never pay

Google is blunt about it:

"Do not engage with or pay the malicious individuals. This can encourage further attempts and doesn't guarantee the removal of reviews."

Google Business Profile Help, Report negative review extortion scams

It also says: "Do not try to resolve it yourself by offering money or services." There are three good reasons for that.

• Paying proves you will payOnce someone knows the threat works, there is nothing to stop them coming back, or passing your details on.
• Nothing guarantees the reviews come downYou have no way to make them keep their side of the deal, and no one to complain to if they do not.
• It breaks Google's own rules for businessesGoogle's policy bans merchants from offering "incentives, such as payment, discounts, free of cost goods and/or services, in exchange for posting any review or revision or removal of a negative review". Paying for removal puts you on the wrong side of the rule that protects you.

Evidence checklist: save it before it disappears

Google says to "gather all evidence immediately", and that the sooner you collect proof, the better. Accounts get deleted and messages vanish, sometimes on purpose. This checklist follows what Google asks for in its extortion form.

• Screenshots of every demandEmails, texts, WhatsApp, Telegram, social media messages and any other written demand for money or favours.
• Date, time and sender on each screenshotGoogle asks for the sender's contact details "to the extent possible, like email addresses, phone numbers and social media profiles".
• Direct links to every suspect reviewGoogle explains how to share a link to a review in its help page on managing customer reviews.
• Everything that identifies the people involvedNames, usernames, email addresses, phone numbers and social media profiles.
• Your timelineWhen you first noticed the spike in negative reviews, when the first demand arrived, and any earlier attempts.
• Payment records, if you paidBank transfers, card payments or receipts, with the account details they were sent to.
• Your police reference numberOnce you have reported it, keep the reference with the rest of the evidence.

Keep it all in one folder so you can attach the same set to the Google form, your police report and any appeal.

How to report review extortion to Google

Google has a dedicated form for this, separate from the normal review report. You need to be signed in to the Google account that manages the affected Business Profile.

1. Go to Google's merchant extortion report form.
2. Give your contact details and your relationship to the business.
3. Give the business's full name, address and a link to its Business Profile.
4. Add details of the suspicious negative reviews, with their links.
5. Describe how the person or group contacted you and what they demanded.
6. Attach screenshots and files that clearly show the communications and demands.
7. Submit the form.

After that, Google says its team "thoroughly investigates the claim and notifies you about the results of the investigation". It will not share details of how it investigated, for privacy and security reasons.

Report each review too

The extortion form is for the demand. The reviews themselves should also be reported one by one, through your Business Profile or the Reviews Management Tool, under fake engagement or rating manipulation, since they are not based on a real experience. That gives you a status to track for each review and, if Google refuses, the one appeal the tool allows. Our guide on how to report a Google review walks through both routes.

Reporting review extortion to the police: UK law

In England and Wales, demanding money to remove reviews can be blackmail, a serious criminal offence. Section 21 of the Theft Act 1968 says:

"A person is guilty of blackmail if, with a view to gain for himself or another or with intent to cause loss to another, he makes any unwarranted demand with menaces."

Theft Act 1968, section 21(1)

The maximum sentence on conviction on indictment is fourteen years in prison. Whether a particular demand is blackmail is for the police and the courts, not us, but a demand for payment backed by a threat of more fake reviews is exactly the kind of thing worth reporting. We are not a law firm, and this is general information rather than legal advice.

Report Fraud took over as the fraud reporting service for England, Wales and Northern Ireland on 4 December 2025. Take your evidence folder with you, or have it ready to upload, and keep the reference number you are given.

Is threatening to leave a bad review extortion?

It depends who is making the threat, and what for. Business owners often search for "someone threatening a bad review unless I pay", and that covers two very different situations.

A stranger demanding money to stop or remove reviews

This is the scam Google describes. The person is not a customer, the reviews are fake, and the demand is for money in return for removing them. Follow every step on this page.

A real customer who wants a refund

A customer who says "refund me or I will leave a one-star review" is usually not the criminal kind. They had a real experience, and Google allows them to review it honestly whether you refund them or not. Deal with the complaint on its merits. If a refund is due, give it. If it is not, explain why in writing and keep a copy.

What you must never do is tie money to the review. Offering a refund, discount or freebie in exchange for not posting, changing or deleting a review breaks Google's incentives rule, and the customer can still post whatever they like afterwards. The same goes for fake reviews: never pay a reviewer to delete one, however tempting it is.

What we do in an extortion case

You can do all of this yourself using the steps above. If you would rather hand it over, this is what we do.

1. Free check on day one. We read every review in the wave against Google's policies and tell you which have a strong case.
2. Evidence pack. We help you lay out the screenshots, links and timeline the way Google's form asks for them.
3. Reports filed. The extortion form for the demand, and a separate report for each review through the Reviews Management Tool, as a Manager on your profile or with you step by step. We never need your Google password.
4. Appeal. If Google refuses any review, we use the one appeal it allows with the full evidence.
5. You pay only for removals. A fixed fee per review, agreed in writing before we start, invoiced only for reviews Google removes.

The police report stays yours to make, because it is your crime to report, but we can give you the same evidence pack to take with you. Our page on how to get negative Google reviews removed explains the wider service.

Should you reply to the extortion reviews?

You do not have to. If you want future customers to see that you are dealing with it, keep the reply short and neutral, for example: "We have no record of this person as a customer and have reported this review to Google." Do not repeat the demand, name suspects or engage in an argument, because replies show publicly as the business and the reviewer is notified.

Once the reviews come down, the Google rating calculator shows where your score should settle, and how many genuine reviews it takes to rebuild it faster.