“One Star”: blackmailing small companies with the weapon of “negative reviews”

The electronic evaluation is no longer just a note left by a customer on the page of a restaurant or service company. In many cases, it has turned into a bargaining or pressure tool that threatens business owners, after some discovered that “one star” is enough to reduce reservations, confuse small projects, and open the door to a new type of digital blackmail.

Owners of restaurants, car rental companies, and small businesses confirmed to “Emirates Today” that they are periodically subjected to attacks from negative comments, which usually appear from anonymous accounts in a short period of time, and are then followed by messages requesting sums of money in exchange for deleting the reviews or preventing the recurrence of the attacks, noting that “while the attackers accomplish their damage in less than an hour, the owner of the activity needs days or weeks to restore his previous status.”

The owner of a car rental company said that they know very well how to negatively affect the company’s activity. One comment stating that the company does not commit to refunding the guarantee amount is enough for customers to immediately flee, pointing out that those behind these comments often reside outside the country, and they ask for $100 to delete one comment.

In turn, experts in law, marketing and technology have warned against electronic blackmail through evaluations, pointing out that those who commit these practices exploit digital evaluations to influence the reputation of companies, and then demand sums of money in exchange for “correcting the situation.”

They pointed out that UAE law criminalizes these methods as an explicit threat, while companies face difficulty in reporting through global platforms due to the difficulty of proving that the evaluation is part of an extortion process.

In detail, owners of restaurants, service companies, and car rental companies revealed to Emirates Today that they are often targeted with systematic negative reviews on the Google Maps and Trip Advisor platforms, stressing that the damage is immediate to the volume of reservations and customer demand.

Ahmed Hassan, the manager of one of the restaurants, said that the attacks usually come from unknown accounts, and cause major problems as they lead to a decrease in the average rating within hours, before they receive calls and messages requesting sums of money in exchange for deleting the comments.

He added that this type of attack is repeated on the restaurant’s accounts on social media platforms, and some people deliberately offend in one way or another, and it is necessary to allocate an employee to filter the comments. He pointed out that the problem is not related to the negativity of the comment or evaluation, as the customer has the right to express his opinion as long as there is no violation, but it is represented by those who master this method of blackmail, especially since most of them reside in other countries, and they ask for sums of money in exchange for stopping this behavior, and unfortunately not all customers have enough awareness to realize that it is an evaluation. False to harm the facility.

$100

For his part, a partner in a car rental company, Waseem Ali, said that these extortionists are well aware of how to harm the company, so they do not publish negative comments about the cars or the service because it is easy for the customer to realize this when he receives the car, but they mention that the company does not return the guarantee amount or obtains money illegally from its customers.

He added that one of these blackmailers was asking for $100 to delete a single comment, and it would take a long effort to review the management of Google or the relevant sites to delete those reviews.

In turn, an employee specialized in managing the accounts of one of the health services centers on social media platforms and Google Maps (S.M.) said that negative reviews are no longer just an opinion, but rather a “tool of influence” and are sometimes used for pressure and barter, pointing out that one of the reviewers threatened to leave a negative review if we did not give him an additional discount, and when we refused, three negative reviews appeared in one day.

She stressed that dealing with the platforms is not easy, as proving that the account is fake requires procedures that exceed the capabilities of ordinary employees, which allows the damage to continue for days before the administration intervenes.

While a manager at one of the immigration and visa services companies said that it is the strongest invisible threat facing small companies that rely on electronic marketing. The person who targets the company with a negative evaluation may take one hour to implement his plan, while it sometimes takes two weeks for the damage to be repaired by the platform, whether it is social media, Google, and platforms such as TripAdvisor and others.

One style

Those responsible for most of the activities agreed that the pattern was the same: anonymous accounts, negative evaluations, a rapid decline in the evaluation, and then a request for money.

They emphasized that the biggest problem is that those responsible for these campaigns and the attacks they carry out are usually from abroad, as the requests for transfers are to external bank accounts.

Marketing and consumer protection expert Dr. Suhail Al Bastaki said, “The digital equation has changed, and the word is no longer a passing opinion, but may turn into a means of pressure or threat.”

He added that his personal experience with one of the landscaping and green area companies reveals part of what is going on. He implemented a project worth 380 thousand dirhams, with a 10-year guarantee, but electrical faults appeared within less than a year. When he published a comment reflecting his experience, he was surprised that it was immediately deleted without any interaction or solution, and he found himself forced to pay 60 thousand dirhams for maintenance. He said: “There are companies that exploit the number of their followers or their influence to delete criticism, while others resort to fake accounts.” To mislead the consumer.

He continued: “On the other hand, small and emerging companies, such as medium-sized restaurants, car rental companies, or any of the institutions that rely on evaluation to spread and attract the public, are harmed by systematic negative comments, and just as some exploit them to their advantage, others suffer from them, and negative evaluation attacks may be carried out at the behest of competitors.”

He pointed out the error of relying on an anonymous comment or an account without a history, calling on consumers and business owners to verify the identity of the accounts before making decisions whether to abstain from or deal with the restaurant or company targeted for evaluation, because such phenomena usually occur on platforms such as “X”, where you find dozens of negative comments on the account of a company, restaurant, etc., and when you enter those accounts you discover that they are newly created or have no followers, and then you realize that they are just electronic flies managed for malicious goals.

Al-Bastaki warned the owners of these establishments against submitting to blackmail in exchange for deleting negative comments or evaluations, as once they respond to a blackmailer, he will repeat his crime using another account or identity, but technical solutions can be used to purify the accounts in a scientific and flexible manner.

Clear legislation

For his part, lawyer Dr. Abdullah Yousef Al Nasser said that UAE legislation is clear and decisive against these practices, stressing that the law balances freedom of expression and digital responsibility.

He added: “The digital environment does not exempt us from responsibility… and when the word turns into a means of pressure or bargaining, we are faced with a fully-fledged crime of electronic blackmail.”

He said: “Article (42) of Federal Decree Law No. (34) of 2021 regarding combating rumors and electronic crimes punishes anyone who blackmails or threatens through electronic means with imprisonment and a fine of up to 500 thousand dirhams.”

He added: “The moment a financial reward is requested to delete a review, the comment turns from a personal opinion into outright blackmail, even if it seems at first to be legitimate criticism.”

He pointed out that extortion today is practiced behind anonymous accounts whose source cannot be easily seen or determined, which makes documentation and rapid reporting necessary to protect projects.

For his part, digital marketing expert Abdul Rahman Aliwa spoke about the existence of entities from abroad, some of which are illegal, that specialize in (manipulating ratings) and sell packages to raise or lower the rating for amounts starting from only $100, stressing that this aspect is the most dangerous in this phenomenon.

He added, “There are small enterprises in the market that are being attacked by negative reviews from competing companies that use these entities, and the whole thing is done through automated tools capable of creating fake accounts, raising views, and amplifying comments,” pointing out that this is an entire industry operating in the shadows.

Aliwa said: “An ordinary user may not notice the difference, but the major platforms have the ability to detect it, and sometimes I communicate with Google employees directly and tell them: I doubt these comments, and these accounts are not normal, because they have user files and their usage patterns, and they can detect fake accounts and delete them, but some procedures take time.”

He stressed that “the speed of dealing varies according to the type of application or service. When the target is government agencies or applications, any negative comment is responded immediately, because they are platforms that are important and serve a large segment of society. However, service or entertainment applications take longer to review, and this gives room for harm.”

He pointed out that some smartphone stores inside the phone are currently working on developing new technologies to delete any applications related to services for purchasing ratings, or increasing views, because these applications violate usage policies, and most of them are illegal to begin with.

He stressed that “the user today is more aware, and if he sees an establishment that provides positive content and deals professionally through responses and interaction, he will not be affected by sudden negative evaluations, because he believes the behavior, not just the number.”

He pointed out that some establishments make a grave mistake when they leave negative comments unanswered, adding that “a quick professional response, along with providing a solution, reduces the impact of the negative evaluation by up to 60%, while silence gives the impression that the criticism is valid.”

He stressed that “technical solutions alone will not be sufficient,” explaining that institutions need a content strategy that enhances trust, through behind-the-scenes videos, real reviews of services, and documentation of successes, because they are elements that strengthen the mental image and break any attempt to distort reputation through fake evaluations.

Experts:

• Negative reviews are an illegal trade sometimes run by competitors.

Project owners:

• The attack is carried out in an hour. It takes two weeks to remove the damage.