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A Sydney-based removalist company owner has fallen victim to a scam aimed at damaging her business’s online reputation in an effort to extort money.
Gina, the owner of Move It With Gina and a single mother of six, was taken aback by the sudden influx of negative reviews posted about her company.
“I started the business 11 years ago, focusing on packing and cleaning,” Gina explained. “Eventually, my clients expressed a need for a removalist, so I decided to purchase a truck.”
She recounted the troubling incident, saying, “Just four days ago, we began receiving one-star reviews in rapid succession, with new ones appearing every half an hour.”
“Four days ago we got one-star reviews in consecutive orders within every half an hour.
“When we had a look at the reviews and who they’re from, we were like, ‘we haven’t serviced these people’.”
Then Gina started getting suspicious text messages.
“I have received A order for posting thirty bad rewiews (sic) on your business. Now he is ignoring My message please pay my loss. 60$. Otherwise I’m going to More One Star review,” one of the messages said.
Gina said she ignored the messages.
Cybersecurity expert Simon Smith said there were a few tell-tale signs of a fake review.
It could include generic language and a succession of negative reviews in a short period of time.
“The most important thing is to never pay the extortion,” Smith said.
For Gina, it took days for the reviews to be taken down.
9News attempted to get a response from the scammer on their number based overseas but they have since gone quiet.
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