Review Bombing – How our client was targeted and what you can learn

What happened?

Our client had a strong online reputation: plenty of five-star and four-star reviews, detailed feedback from real customers, and a profile that showed credibility. Suddenly, within minutes, their profile was flooded with multiple one-star scam reviews.

The pattern was obvious:

• Reviews posted within seconds of each other.
  
• Generic, poorly written text.
  
• One review even said: “Business owner, contact me, check my profile. My WhatsApp number is in my profile.”
  

The goal? To pressure the business into messaging the scammer and then demand money to “remove” the reviews.

Our response

Here’s what we advised and did immediately:
✅ Reported all fake reviews as spam.
✅ Asked the client to also report them.
✅ Suggested sharing the link with friends and family so they could report them too.

We strongly recommended not contacting the scammer, as this only leads to more harassment and demands for money.

Why it matters for every business

This case shows that review bombing can happen to anyone – even companies with a great reputation. And it’s not just about one bad day:

• Fake reviews can damage your rating and scare potential clients.
  
• They can make your profile look less trustworthy compared to competitors.
  
• The stress and distraction it causes to business owners is real.
  

What you can do

• Monitor your reviews regularly.
  
• Report suspicious ones immediately.
  
• Keep collecting genuine customer reviews to outweigh any damage (but not straight away! Keep the scammy ones on top for Google to notice).
  

How we can help

At SLT Media, we support businesses with Google profile optimisation, review monitoring, reporting guidance and review response management. If you ever find yourself in a similar situation – get in touch. We can help protect your reputation before fake reviews cause real harm.