10:01 am, August 21, 2026
Strange WhatsApp messages offering to remove bad Google reviews have become a familiar irritation for many car dealers.
But for some retailers, they appear to be part of something far more sinister.
Car Dealer has spoken to dealers who say they have been hit with suspicious one-star reviews, threats of further negative feedback and demands for money to make the problem disappear.
In one case, an independent dealer says around 10 one-star reviews appeared after he replied ‘no thanks’ to an unsolicited message offering to remove negative feedback.
Another retailer ignored a similar approach but says an obviously fake review remains on its Google profile despite being reported at least 10 times.
The messages often arrive from overseas numbers and some dealers believe the people offering to solve the problem may be connected to the suspicious reviews in the first place.
For George Dickens, director of Direct Car Sales, the trouble started with an unsolicited message offering to remove negative reviews.
‘I just replied, “No thanks”,’ he told Car Dealer.
It was only afterwards that other dealers told him he shouldn’t have responded at all.
‘Everyone said, “You shouldn’t reply to them because now they know that they can get a response from you”,’ he said.
Then the reviews started.
‘After that we started getting loads of one-star reviews come through,’ Dickens said.
‘They were messaging us saying, “We’re going to keep leaving one-star reviews until you respond to us”, or you can pay us to remove the reviews.
‘I wouldn’t reply.
‘They must have left us about 10 one-star reviews.’
For a relatively young business, the impact was immediate. His Google rating was being dragged down by people he says had never been customers.
‘For three weeks we were obviously panicking because it brought our star rating right down,’ he said.
With no genuine customer complaint to resolve, Dickens turned to other dealers for help.
Members of the motor trade began reporting the suspicious reviews to Google, while Direct Car Sales appealed to genuine customers who had dealt with the business to leave feedback of their own.
‘A lot of the car dealers went onto our Google page,’ Dickens said.
‘That’s how good the car industry is – everyone helps each other out.
‘They went on there and reported them and we put a post on our own Direct Car Sales Facebook page.
‘A lot of local people we deal with went on there and left us reviews who hadn’t done it before.’
Eventually, the suspicious reviews disappeared – but Dickens says it took around three weeks.
‘Google did look into it because so many people reported them and they did end up removing them all,’ he said.
‘Thankfully, we managed to get it sorted in the end.’
One of the biggest frustrations, he says, was being unable to speak directly to anyone at Google while his dealership’s rating was being affected.
‘Google is very hard to get hold of,’ he said. ‘There’s no way of actually getting hold of Google and speaking to anyone.
‘You email them and they don’t reply. It’s only the fact that you can go on there and report them.
‘You never get a response from Google and they didn’t actually let us know that the reviews had been removed.’
What happens if you don’t respond?
Dickens’ experience might suggest the safest option is simply to ignore messages offering to manipulate your reviews.
That’s certainly Google’s advice – but another dealer’s experience shows it doesn’t necessarily make the problem disappear.
Estelle Miller, of EV Experts, has been trying to have a one-star review they believe is fake removed from the dealership’s Google profile.
The review contains advertising for McDonald’s and appears to have nothing to do with EV Experts, but is nevertheless affecting its overall rating.
Miller initially reported it to Google three times and had no luck removing it, but then the WhatsApp messages started.
‘We have an obviously fake review containing advertising for McDonald’s and it has given us one star, which is affecting our overall score,’ she said.
‘I initially reported it three times to Google but it was still there.
‘I then received a WhatsApp message from someone saying they could take it down and wanting to engage with me about it.
‘I ignored the WhatsApp message and the review is still there.’
Miller was subsequently contacted by someone in Bangladesh asking her to pay to have the review removed.
She said: ‘I can’t see how they would be able to remove it unless they wrote it in the first place.’
But Miller says the dealership has now reported the review repeatedly without success.
‘We have submitted it at least 10 times to Google as a fake review and it hasn’t been removed and we’ve had no contact from Google either,’ she said.
‘It is really frustrating.
‘I am 100 per cent sure it isn’t genuine. Google needs to do more to deal with these problems.’
Other retailers have described similar approaches, involving threats of negative reviews, suspicious feedback from people they say have never been customers and messages from individuals offering to remove or manipulate reviews.
For dealers who have spent years building their online reputations, even a handful of one-star ratings can make a visible difference to the score prospective customers see before they ever reach a dealership’s website or forecourt.
Car Dealer has contacted Google for a comment on these cases.
‘Don’t get involved’
Independent Motor Dealers Association chairman Umesh Samani said he too had heard of dealers being blackmailed over their reviews.
‘I’ve personally not had that, thank God,’ he told Car Dealer.
Samani warned dealers not to engage with unsolicited approaches from people claiming they can remove negative feedback.
‘It’s like all these people who say, “We can remove negative reviews” and that sort of stuff,’ he said.
‘Don’t get involved with any of them. Just don’t respond, don’t answer back.
‘We know they try and get the login details and take the business over.’
Dickens has adopted the same approach.
His original attack happened around a year ago but, remarkably, he says the messages have never really stopped.
Direct Car Sales still receives around one approach a week relating to its reviews.
Google recognises ‘review extortion’
The experiences reported by dealers are part of a problem specifically recognised by Google.
The tech giant describes ‘negative review extortion scams’ as cases where businesses may receive a sudden increase in one and two-star reviews before being contacted by someone demanding money, goods or services in exchange for their removal.
Its advice is not to engage with or pay those responsible.
Instead, Google tells victims to immediately gather evidence, including screenshots of messages, dates and times, phone numbers, email addresses and usernames.
Businesses should also retain direct links to suspicious reviews and evidence of any subsequent demands.
Google has introduced a dedicated merchant extortion reporting process for businesses targeted in this way, while its policies prohibit reviews which do not represent a genuine experience and attempts to manipulate a business’s rating.
Fake reviews have also been specifically banned under UK consumer protection law since changes introduced through the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act came into force in April 2025.
Google has previously agreed undertakings with the Competition and Markets Authority aimed at strengthening its processes for tackling fake reviews.
Car Dealer has approached Google for comment on the cases raised by Dickens and Miller and asked what dealers should do when apparently fake reviews remain online despite being repeatedly reported.
For those targeted, however, the immediate advice is straightforward: don’t pay, don’t hand over account details and preserve evidence of any demands.
Dickens now takes an even simpler approach whenever another message arrives.
‘We just block them and report them straight away.’