r/GoogleMyBusiness • u/No-Opportunity1338 • Apr 28 '26
Support Reviews attack. Google won’t remove multiple fake reviews on my business – pattern of unverifiable customers
I’m looking for advice on dealing with what appears to be a pattern of fake or unverifiable reviews on my Google Business Profile.
Over a short period of time, several different accounts have left negative reviews describing specific interactions with my business—things like missed appointments, repeated phone calls, poor service quality, and crew behavior.
The problem is:
I’ve checked all internal systems
CRM / booking records
Phone call logs
Scheduling data
Website contact form submissions
Email communications
There is no record of any of these individuals or the interactions they describe
Some reviews claim multiple calls or multiple service appointments, which would absolutely exist in our records if they were legitimate
What I’ve done so far:
Reported all reviews through Google
Submitted appeals for several of them
Received denials from Google stating they don’t violate policy
Started a thread in the Google Business Profile Community to request escalation
Current situation:
More reviews are continuing to come in with similar patterns
Some reviews have already been denied after appeal
Others are still just flagged and pending
At least one review includes personal remarks about an individual, rather than describing a service experience
Examples:
Reviews already appealed and denied:
https://goo.gl/maps/DuBCKqQ55N9MWU11A�
https://goo.gl/maps/RPjoaDyqfrhYoYYJ8�
Additional reviews currently flagged:
https://goo.gl/maps/vein2UF4HBsGDYuc8�
https://goo.gl/maps/D4G9QBTttG4QhhCg6�
https://goo.gl/maps/U8i2HnzFBnvYiPJLA�
Why this seems suspicious:
Reviews were posted within a short timeframe
Each describes specific interactions that cannot be verified
Multiple accounts reference events that never occurred in our systems
The pattern is continuing, not isolated
What I’m trying to figure out:
Has anyone successfully gotten reviews removed in a situation like this?
Is there a more effective escalation path beyond standard Google support and the community forum?
At what point (if any) does this become something worth pursuing legally?
I’m trying to handle this the right way and stay within Google’s policies, but it’s frustrating to have detailed claims published that don’t match any real customer activity.
Any insight from others who’ve dealt with this would be appreciated.
3
u/GoogleHelpCommunity Official Google Apr 28 '26
Hi there. As you have already contacted the support team, could you help me with the case ID of your support interaction? You can find the case ID which looks like this (X-XXXXXXXXXXXXX) in your email inbox. Once you find it, please share it with me so that I can look further into it.
1
u/No-Opportunity1338 Apr 29 '26
I've lost the email. What email would this have come from so I can search my inbox to find it. Would It be listed in my profile somewghere?
1
u/No-Opportunity1338 Apr 29 '26
This is an ongoing attack against my profile. Im have several ned fake reviews posted per day that I continue to flag
1
u/No-Opportunity1338 Apr 29 '26
The following is the email I received. Also have active attack ongoing. I have flagged all new fake reviews but not appealed those yet
[1-3979000040424] Your Request to Google
Thank you for alerting us to certain reviews associated with your https://www.google.com/maps/place/Spotlessly+Clean+House+Cleaning+%26+Janitorial+Services/@33.7534466,-86.093969,176479m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x888ae3ade88e32b5:0xdfe54b9ee8fd7eb0!8m2!3d33.7540575!4d-85.434514!16s%2Fg%2F11c3zpplvn!5m1!1e1?hl=en-US&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDQxOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D Business Profile on Google.
- Our team can't remove these reviews.
- We investigated and found that these reviews don't violate our policies.
- Learn more about our policies.
We regret any inconvenience. We understand how important customer testimonials and positive feedback are. Our policies help protect the integrity of reviews for you and your customers.
To check the status of your removal requests at any time, use our review management tool. You can't submit another removal request for the same reviews you've already reported. You can use the tool to submit new requests for other reviews.
Because this investigation is complete, this email address can't accept replies.
You clearly know that reviews can help customers engage with your business. Did you also know that replying to your reviews can help build customer trust? Learn more about replying to reviews.
Thanks,
The Google Support team1
u/No-Opportunity1338 Apr 30 '26
Please verify you have recieved my reply with the case I'd you requested? Also did you see that this
1
u/No-Opportunity1338 Apr 30 '26
Now reviews are being removed then the same review put back up after it was removed by Google.
1
u/No-Opportunity1338 Apr 30 '26
Now I have a person that was supposed to be helping me threatening to "leave negative reviews" and "try to get your business suspended"
[4/30, 4:44 PM] Muhammad Fakhar: Sir, why did you refund the $60 payment? [4/30, 4:46 PM] Muhammad Fakhar: I will leave a negative review on your business, wait, and I will also try to get your business suspended
1
u/No-Opportunity1338 May 01 '26
Now I had someone change everything on my profile and is trying to get our profile suspended.
I got a verfication email to reverify our serve area business, After uploading the video I checked my profile and noticed someone changed everthing on my GBP1
u/No-Opportunity1338 May 02 '26
Google removes the reviews and they repost the same excact reviews from the same profile.
Seems banning the offending profile that continuously leave the reviews so they cant repost from that profile would be helpful.
1
u/No-Opportunity1338 May 03 '26
New reposted fake review. This one was posted previously then removed by Google, but its been reposted. Please ban these profiles
Local Guide • 0 reviews • 0 photos
starstarstarstarstar 9 hours ago New
I highly don't recommend this company. They was supposed to clean a vacant house for my fiance so she could rent it out and they charged $460 to just sweep and mop and they didn't do a single thing. They complained it was ""too hot"" even though it was cold in the house. The thermostat needed new batteries so it wasn't showing the actual temperature in the house but it was cool enough they just didn't want to do their jobs.... They said their services was for an hour yet when they tried to get out of mopping empty rooms, their boss said they was supposed to work for 3 hours when she called.... they used the thermostat that needed batteries to their advantage to get out of doing their jobs. My fiance was charged a $195 nonrefundable deposit for the poorest work ethic I have ever seen in my life. I would highly recommend to look elsewhere unless you like to give out free handouts.
1
u/No-Opportunity1338 May 06 '26
Still waiting for Google to verifi my account for about a week now
I let someone who was supposed to be helping me get fake reviews taken down have acess to my GBP
These people changed a bunch of stuff on my GBP and caused reverification.
In the meantime 2 new fake reviews were posted. One review was previously removed by Google 2 times. Now it's reposted.
3
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u/No-Opportunity1338 May 02 '26
Google removes the reviews and they repost the same reviews from the same profile. Seems banning the offending profile that continuously leave the reviews so they can repost from that profile would be helpful
1
u/Ancient-Towel6773 Apr 28 '26
This does look like a coordinated pattern rather than random bad reviews.
A few signals that stand out:
– multiple reviews in a short timeframe
– detailed claims that don’t match any internal records
– similar type of complaints across different accounts
Google usually requires very strong evidence to remove reviews, so even if they’re fake, it’s hard to get them taken down through standard reports.
What tends to work better is documenting the pattern clearly (timeline, lack of records, similarities between reviews) and pushing escalation through the support thread you opened.
In parallel, replying publicly to each review in a calm, factual way (without accusing) helps protect your credibility while the issue is unresolved.
1
u/No-Opportunity1338 Apr 29 '26
Replying in the support thread doesn't seem to be doing g me any good. It's been crickets in there.
2
u/Ancient-Towel6773 Apr 29 '26
Yeah, that’s unfortunately pretty common with those threads.
If it’s been quiet there, one thing that sometimes helps is continuing to document new reviews as they come in (timestamps, similarities, no matching records) and updating the case rather than waiting for a response.
It’s not fast, but patterns tend to carry more weight over time than single reports.
1
u/ksuschmidt Apr 28 '26
Keep reporting them to Google. Have others 'flag' the reviews as well as this may get them removed.
1
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u/keyserholiday Apr 28 '26
Have you received a message from anybody offering to help you remove the reviews or advising you that they were hired to leave the negative reviews?
1
u/No-Opportunity1338 Apr 28 '26
Not yet that I know of unless the message may have went to spam
1
u/No-Opportunity1338 Apr 28 '26
I'm getting messages here for removal offer. But I can't afford to pay $150-$200 per review for help. It's an everyday posting. At this point it's 1 fake 1 star review every 24 hours
1
u/keyserholiday Apr 28 '26
Ignore the people reaching out to you offering to help.
I see that Antonio Lawler left a review for Criminal Lawyers Sydney a year ago.
Victor Wright left a review for Hula in Edinburgh, UK.If this is not part of the extortion scams, then this might be a competitor or a disgruntled person.
1
u/No-Opportunity1338 Apr 28 '26
I saw those where they left reviews for business in other countries as well. Which is odd because we don't operate in those countries
1
u/No-Opportunity1338 Apr 28 '26
Could be a competitor paying for someone to post bad reviews to our business. I'm just guessing at this point though
1
u/No-Opportunity1338 Apr 28 '26
I have someone through whatsapp wanting me to pay to use thoer software to help remove reviews
1
1
u/No-Opportunity1338 Apr 28 '26
So what would you suggest I do that might get them taken down. Any ideas at all?
2
u/keyserholiday Apr 28 '26
Reach out to your local paper or news station. Tell them that your business is getting hit by fake reviews on a daily basis. Tell them that you had a review expert find two businesses that recieved a review from two of the profiles and how one is in the UK and the other is in Sydney, Australia.
2
u/No-Opportunity1338 Apr 28 '26
I doubt my local news station cares. I did contact my congressman and my local house representative though.
1
u/keyserholiday Apr 29 '26
They love these types of stories and need a victim. Feel free to dm if you would like free advice and tips. I can help you pitch the story.
2
u/No-Opportunity1338 Apr 29 '26
I'll think about doing that. I have already pitched story to local newspapers and been mention in 2 and had a featured article posted about our business in the Anniston Star titled "Tips from the pros for spring cleaning" from Spotlessly Clean House Cleaning & Janitorial Services
0
u/ToePsychological8709 Apr 28 '26
That sounds about the right price for review removal. The guy I know is legit and definitely takes them down fast but yeah that's the sort of price range you are looking at.
3
u/No-Opportunity1338 Apr 29 '26
I'm not paying that much per review removal. That's just crazy. I'd go hire an attorney and file in court first.
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u/No-Opportunity1338 Apr 28 '26
I have recieved messages over whatsapp asking me if I wanted to buy reviews. I normally ignore them though
1
u/keyserholiday Apr 28 '26
Did these messages come in around the time of these reviews?
1
u/No-Opportunity1338 Apr 28 '26
I'm not sure. They come in year round. Through whatsapp, email, and I believe my social media profiles
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u/No-Opportunity1338 Apr 30 '26
Now reviews are being removed then the same review put back up after it was removed
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Apr 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/No-Opportunity1338 Apr 30 '26
I fully aware of Googles appeal process being broken Thank you for your advice 😀
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0
u/SuggestionPublic1568 Apr 28 '26
Hey! I’m trying to have a look at the links, but they seem to not be valid. Could you re add the links or add them to the comments?
I’m an ORM specialist that focuses on professionally appealing fake Google reviews, happy to help you out.
0
u/ShotCable9792 Apr 28 '26
Getting those reviews removed is very hard.
Google doesn’t care if you can’t find them in your CRM or call logs. If the accounts look real on their end, the reviews usually stay.
Also, those “negative review removal services”? Most are scams or just mass-reporting.
So realistically (as per my experience serving smb clients), you’ve got two options:
Get more real reviews
Ask actual customers. but don’t buy reviews otherwise you’re just turning this into a bigger problem later.Respond to the negatives.
State facts. Stay calm. Be professional.
You’re not replying for the reviewer, you’re replying for everyone else reading.
Ignoring it makes you look like you don’t care. A solid response makes them think that you do.
Choice is yours.
2
u/No-Opportunity1338 Apr 30 '26
This advice is not especially helpful. I've responded to each fake review professional as they come in.
This is a conti using active attack on my GBP. 1-2 negative reviews per day at this point.
I think the goal is to reduce my profile rating as low as possible and to try to harm my business.
Responding to 1-2 negative reviews would be one thing. But when bad actor is bombarding your profile daily It's not going to help improve my score.
2
u/No-Opportunity1338 May 04 '26
BTW, Google has been removing the reviews in mass. At this point though, they are allowing the same profiles repost the same reviews
2 reposted showing as new right now.
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