A roofing company in Arizona was hit with fake one-star Google reviews because the company owner chose not to buy fake five-star reviews, according to Arizona’s Family news source.
Bo Curry, owner of Mayer Roofing, Mayer, Ariz., recently received a message on Facebook from someone offering to post fake five-star reviews if Curry paid the individual a certain amount.
“It was like 10 reviews for $250, and I refused,” Curry said. “I said I’m not going to buy fake reviews.”
Curry then received a one-star review on Google from someone who had never been a customer. The individual reached out to Curry through Facebook, offering to remove the review if Curry gave him $150. When Curry did not comply, he received another fake one-star review.
Curry contacted Google, and although he never heard back, the fake one-star reviews about Curry’s company have been removed. However, Curry is concerned about the business he may have lost while those fake Google reviews were visible.
Kay Dean, a former federal fraud investigator who runs the website Fake Review Watch, said the Google review scam Curry experienced is a common extortion scheme. A Google report shows Google removed 221 million fake and misleading reviews in 2025.
“It’s very distressing for small businesses because small businesses in today’s environment live and die by their reviews,” Dean said.
Dean said if a company is hit with fake bad reviews, it is important to document everything, flag the reviews and report them. Checking to see whether the profile is set to private may help business owners spot a fake review because such reviews often are posted by private profiles that conceal locations. Additionally, a reverse image search can help to see whether the account that posted a review has a real photo or an image taken from another site.
