Restaurant group targeted by blackmailers over fake reviews

Attempts have been made to blackmail Sheridan and his business partners Sam and Emma Morgan with criminals demanding a payment of thousands of pounds or they would create thousands of fake one-star reviews

The trio own and run five restaurants in the UK including Restaurant 8 in Liverpool, The Bracebridge in Birmingham, Black and Green in Worcestershire, and Restaurant OXA in Wirral.

They are soon to open their sixth restaurant, Dishes, in Prestatyn​​, north Wales.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's You and Yours programme​​, Sheridan and Morgan revealed that criminals had threatened the business through its WhatsApp booking service.

They demanded a payment of £2,000 to stop them from posting numerous negative reviews about their various restaurants.

The pair initially ignored the demands but then said a one-star review was posted online before being removed as proof of the criminals’ ability to carry out their threat.

"The weapon is fear - ultimately we are a small independent business - yes we have got six or seven restaurants but actually underneath it all we are just two lads trying hard to make a living, we are not a multi-million organisation, we don't have the resources that tackle these things,” Morgan told the programme.

Morgan initially tried to play along with the criminals but on failing to meet their payment demands more fake reviews appeared online both on Google and TripAdvisor.

One review on TripAdvisor mentioned a “very poor and very overpriced” wine list at one of the restaurants, claiming that it was selling a bottle of prosecco for £90.

Morgan said he tried to report the fake reviews to Google but was unable to lodge the correct complaint via its chatbot. Only when the pair got the BBC involved, including reporter Shari Vahl, did Google eventually take down three fake reviews, with TripAdvisor also removing a review.

In its response to the BBC, TripAdvisor pointed to the fact that it does have an option for businesses to report a blackmail threat and said it ‘diligently’ investigated claims.

Speaking to Restaurant​, Morgan said that although he had stopped engaging with the criminals, he still believed the business was under threat and pointed out that some fake reviews remained online.

He said the inability of sites such as TripAdvisor and Google to verify reviews meant that the restaurant industry was under constant threat from fraud and criticised them for not doing more to protect businesses from fake reviews.

“If people leave a review via our booking site, we know that it is genuine and that they have dined with us, but this isn’t the case with other sites. These businesses could do more to prevent them but it would mean cutting into the profit they make.”