Report fake reviews to the UK police? Google reviews

[macmacman]

Someone has a bee in their bonnet about me!

I suspect it is in relation to a genuine 1-star negative review I left for their business on Google Reviews after I was a customer and their service was poor.

Now they are reviewing my company on google reviews with fake reviews! They are not a customer of mine.

Had a few now. Can I report them to the police? They are using random names and accounts. Reckon the police/google can track their IP addresses and work out they are the same person?

 

[Mr D]

Have they broken any criminal laws? Or is this a civil matter?

 

[macmacman]

Not sure. They are lying about my company by saying they have dealt with us and slagging us off in the reviews.

 

[Blaby Loyal]

What crime has been committed?

What evidence do you have that it is a single perpetrator?

 

[macmacman]

That they are making stuff up about us and making us sounds bad, and saying ripe off and don't use etc.

I don't have any evidence, but you can tell they are written by the same person in style. Also we don't have any customers with the same names or dealt with anyone with the same problems they are talking about.

 

[Blaby Loyal]

It's a total non-starter unless you have evidence as to who is behind it: that's both from a civil and criminal viewpoint.

Plod will just say it's a civil matter. They'll be too busy dealing with pub fights and minor motoring offences anyway.

Can you not get the organisation that hosts the review site(s) to do anything?

 

[macmacman]

Ok thanks. Does everyone agree? They are Google Reviews. If the police contact google will they do anything?

 

[fisicx]

They are Google Reviews. If the police contact google will they do anything?

1. The police won't contact google
2. If they did google wouldn't do anything.

You have become one of the many companies in the same boat. All you can really do is make sure you get lots of your happy customers to post loads of 5 star reviews.

 

[Dimo]

You are not going to get the police to do anything. I suggest you contact Google yourself and persevere until they do.

As an aside, people are becoming aware that a great many positive online reviews are fake. Some outfits have been buying them. The Internet is becoming ever more untrustworthy.

 

[macmacman]

Thanks @fisicx and @Dimo

Ok last ditch, what about if I report it to https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/ ? They will then pass it on to the police?

The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) review the information you have given us and assess whether there is enough evidence for the police or appropriate law enforcement organisation, such as Trading Standards to investigate your fraud. The NFIB aims to send you an update in writing when your report has been assessed. Updates will only be given 3 months after your initial report. This is due to the high volume of reports we are currently receiving. Please note that updates cannot be provided by telephone.
​

 

[NewGardenStyle]

Sorry but the police aren't going to do anything as it's not a criminal matter. I'd wager you'd have to be a victim of some serious trolling, death threats etc against you as an individual before they'd even begin to take an interest.

 

[fisicx]

Ok last ditch, what about if I report it to https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/ ? They will then pass it on to the police?

Nope. They get thousands of reports and unless there are a high percentage for a particular alleged fraud they won't do anything.

Do some reputation management and bury the bad reviews.

 

[macmacman]

Can the police not then say to Google "give me the IP addresses for these reviews". They match them up, work out who it is, then do go round their house and do something about it.

Oh dear, making myself laugh a bit at how ridiculous that sounds when you write it down. That's never going to happen is it.

 

[Mr D]

Can the police not then say to Google "give me the IP addresses for these reviews". They match them up, work out who it is, then do go round their house and do something about it.

Oh dear, making myself laugh a bit at how ridiculous that sounds when you write it down. That's never going to happen is it.

Well yes the police could do all that. But they will not as it appears to be a civil matter.
How much do you want to spend on solicitors OP?

 

[macmacman]

Not a lot! What would a solicitor do in a civil case? How could they prove who was doing it? Can they order Google to give them the IP addresses.

 

[Mr D]

Not a lot! What would a solicitor do in a civil case? How could they prove who was doing it? Can they order Google to give them the IP addresses.

They can prove it same way you are doing.

 

[fisicx]

Can they order Google to give them the IP addresses.

No, Google is never going to do this (not that it would help find the person involved). Have you actually reported the fake reviews yet: https://support.google.com/business/answer/4596773?hl=en-GB

 

[macmacman]

They can prove it same way you are doing.

Ok, so that might get the reviews removed at least. If Google co-operates with the solicitor? But I can't prove who it is, so guess they can't either without Google giving IP address info. Doubt Google would do this in a civil case (due to GDPR maybe).

No, Google is never going to do this (not that it would help find the person involved). Have you actually reported the fake reviews yet: https://support.google.com/business/answer/4596773?hl=en-GB

Yes, flagged it, waiting to see what happens. Not a lot if past experience of Google flagging is anything to go by.

 

[mattk]

The other approach you can take is to leave a reply to each review offering them a full refund or whatever is appropriate to your business. This at least gives you the right to reply.

You can also contact Google on Twitter and Facebook. The benefit of this is that your genuine customers will support you and it may also gain you some positive exposure.

 

[Nord20]

There's a little dropdown next to each review that you can use to report it google. The options are limited, but one of them is for it being 'innapropriate'. Write a response to the review and be clear that this is someone who has never been a customer of yours, then hit the report button. Google will see the original review and your response and *hopefully* take it down.

We had a similar situation - one unhappy customer who got lots of her colleagues to write us negative reviews. Google removed them all except hers, which is as it should be.

 

[Nico Albrecht]

To get it removed you need to convince as many people as you can to flag that review Ideally over 15 different people. Wait a day or two and Googles AI will remove the review

 

[estwig]

If you hunt around in Google, drill down through the review stuff, there is a link to submit your case to Google and someone will look at it, as opposed to ticking a box to kick in an algorithm.

I have done this with success in the past to have fake reviews removed, but I can't remember where the link is, it was a bugger to find I remember that much!

 

[Aqueous]

I have done this with success in the past to have fake reviews removed, but I can't remember where the link is, it was a bugger to find I remember that much!

Indeed, Google will remove fake reviews and as they will have logged the IP addresses they came from they will also know whether this is one person doing it (though they won't ever tell you that.)

The link you need is here https://support.google.com/business/answer/4596773?hl=en-GB

It generally takes them up to a week to sort but they will remove them and it's a permanent and free solution. Best of luck!

 

[estwig]

The link you need is here https://support.google.com/business/answer/4596773?hl=en-GB

No that's not it, there is a way to start a more formal process to 'review the review', but I can't remember how to find it. The one I did took about 4 weeks for them to look at it and give a response.

 

[paulears]

I don't understand how the Police even come into it. At worst with my limited legal knowledge it appears to be defamatory - so that's libel or slander, which are expensive to do anything around. Clearly you need evidence, and there isn't any only conjecture - and I'm sure you are right, but how do you prove it. I've just been involved with something where the IP address clinched it, and I proved it had come from the same IP address. A win? Nope. How many computers are at that IP address and how do you prove who was sitting in front of it pressing the keys? Forums have the same issue - somebody asks an innocent question about a specific product, a different person pops up in response to say how wonderful it is and how much they recommend it. The forum modes are often pretty good - spotting similar phrases, perhaps even the same wrong spelling or odd capitalisation, or use of hyphens rather than commas or full stops, but can they actually prove Fred is Brian. Can they even. Prove Fred is Fred, and not Barry the annoying schoolboy, and the IP address is the school computer room. Indeed - now whois is effectively useless thanks to the GDPR. Names and addresses have been sanitised for data security. I'm sure you are correct, but can you prove it?

 

[Jason Howard]

I wouldn't worry too much if it was just one review.

 

[haryj]

Get in touch with a private investigating company,

How far do you want to take this?

Depending on their level of expertise, they should be able to track IP addresses and at least tell you if it's from a single mobile phone, one certain computer and so on. Not sure if they gonna be able to send you their names and addresses, something you could discuss with them

 

[OMGVape]

This is a lesson to everyone with an online business.
Imaging the internet is your local high street. If you owned a cafe and one day you go to the butcher and get some iffy sausages, if you slag off that butcher to people, you can bet your life the butcher will start doing the same about you.

If you feel the need to leave a bad review, do it anonymously or expect retaliation.

This is mainly why eBay stopped sellers leaving negative feedback, because buyers were afraid to leave negs where appropriate.

 

[NewGardenStyle]

I read some google reviews earlier for a fire alarm company I am considering using.

They had one negative review, left by a local SEO outfit whose services the fire alarm company refused to engage with!

 

[marcus_bond]

Someone has a bee in their bonnet about me!

I suspect it is in relation to a genuine 1-star negative review I left for their business on Google Reviews after I was a customer and their service was poor.

Now they are reviewing my company on google reviews with fake reviews! They are not a customer of mine.

Had a few now. Can I report them to the police? They are using random names and accounts. Reckon the police/google can track their IP addresses and work out they are the same person?

Sometimes you can ask the review companies to obtain evidence that their reviewers are a genuine customer, for instance Trustpilot will ask for some documentation. But it's a never ending game, just ask all your customers to leave a review, the more good reviews, the less the bad ones matter, they get diluted. As for the police, they will not be interested

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

I read some google reviews earlier for a fire alarm company I am considering using.

They had one negative review, left by a local SEO outfit whose services the fire alarm company refused to engage with!

The chances are that the company was provided with a quotation which they were not happy with so decided to give a bad review... or used their services and received an invoice for a call out that they knew nothing about... which does happen unfortunately... not the installers fault though, that'll be down to the call centre... but it's always the installer's fault.

we've had a couple of customers practically scream "HOW MUCH!!" down the phone at us when quoting for such systems... what they seem to forget is that

1. if the alarm isn't up to scratch then it's going to end up being the cause of a death, therefore as an installer, the installer plus the owner of the property (and in some cases... the tenant) are liable in the case of a death on the property, thus leading to a prison sentence... is it really worth it not having the correct system in?

2. equipment costs money... Yes there are some low end kits out there in most industries but why play with fire... (Pardon the pun!).

3. If we hear "HOW MUCH" shouted down the phone, we know that they don't have the funds to pay for the installation therefore we're not interested in the job... there's no point in starting the work if they can't pay for it at the end.

 

[DotenHosting]

Someone has a bee in their bonnet about me!

I suspect it is in relation to a genuine 1-star negative review I left for their business on Google Reviews after I was a customer and their service was poor.

Now they are reviewing my company on google reviews with fake reviews! They are not a customer of mine.

Had a few now. Can I report them to the police? They are using random names and accounts. Reckon the police/google can track their IP addresses and work out they are the same person?

If you were to contact the police in respect of this, you would have to prove beyond reasonable doubt who was posting the comments. Then it would be a question of what crime has been committed? You're probably thinking that it may amount to harassment or something along those lines?

It's unlikely to meet the criteria for harassment as it is aimed at a business opposed to a person, then if the police did find a criminal charge they would struggle to get any support from Google as they're a US based company and do not specifically have to work with the police here in the UK.

Your best bet would be to find out who it is posting the comments and instruct a solicitor for civil proceedings.

 

[Phil Elvin]

For our solitary bad Google review (don't want to tempt fate) we simply put a diplomatic response and explained it wasn't connected to us.

The previous posters right, get your other customers to leave you 5 star reviews. It should balance off eventually. Personally, I think it's good to see the odd under 5 star review. An overall rating of 5 always looks suspicious to me as if they are fake reviews. We all make mistakes from time to time.

You can always dispute the review with Google but not sure how effective this is.

 

[Bob Morgan]

I fail to understand why anyone would place themselves in this position to begin with.

 

[Gecko001]

The barber I used to go to had a sign up saying. "If we do a bad job tell us. If we do a good job tell somebody else" or words to that effect.

 

[NewGardenStyle]

The chances are that the company was provided with a quotation which they were not happy with so decided to give a bad review... or used their services and received an invoice for a call out that they knew nothing about... which does happen unfortunately... not the installers fault though, that'll be down to the call centre... but it's always the installer's fault.

we've had a couple of customers practically scream "HOW MUCH!!" down the phone at us when quoting for such systems... what they seem to forget is that

1. if the alarm isn't up to scratch then it's going to end up being the cause of a death, therefore as an installer, the installer plus the owner of the property (and in some cases... the tenant) are liable in the case of a death on the property, thus leading to a prison sentence... is it really worth it not having the correct system in?

2. equipment costs money... Yes there are some low end kits out there in most industries but why play with fire... (Pardon the pun!).

3. If we hear "HOW MUCH" shouted down the phone, we know that they don't have the funds to pay for the installation therefore we're not interested in the job... there's no point in starting the work if they can't pay for it at the end.

Sorry I should have been clearer...the SEO company had never used the fire alarm company's services. The bad review was left as the fire alarm company refused to use the SEO company to SEO their website or whatever they were pitching. Bitter!