Negative Google Maps reviews from people who were never customers
Expert report proving which negative reviews of a business did not come from real customers.
Background
A private healthcare practice received several negative Google Maps reviews and suspected that some authors had never been customers, and that some reviews might come from the same person under different names.
What I was asked
To determine which reviewers were actually registered as customers and whether several profiles belonged to the same person.
How it was analysed
- Collection and documentation of the published reviews.
- Cross-check of reviewers' names against a copy of the business's customer database.
- In a second phase, analysis of user identification data provided by Google under a court order (emails and phone numbers).
- Cross-check of that data against the customer database.
Report findings
Several reviewers were shown not to be customers. In addition, the data provided by Google linked profiles with different names to a single person.
Key takeaway
Fake reviews can be fought with evidence: cross-checking against customer data and obtaining platform data through the courts can identify their source.
Related service: Expert reports on cybersecurity incidents and computer fraud
Anonymised case. Personal data, the parties and procedural references have been omitted or altered to preserve confidentiality.