Google Launches New Maps Feature to Help Businesses Report Review-Based Extortion Attempts

Google has announced a new dedicated form on Google Maps that lets businesses report extortion attempts by threat actors who post inauthentic negative reviews and demand ransoms to remove them. The feature targets the practice known as review bombing, where malicious actors flood a profile with fake one-star reviews and then contact the business to push for a payment, Google said via its Trust & Safety team.

The move comes alongside warnings about other scams, including AI product impersonation, malicious VPNs and fraud-recovery schemes, and is framed as a way to counter coercive tactics that threaten a business’s reputation. According to Reuters, Meta is also facing scrutiny over billions of dollars in scam-ad revenue on its platform, with internal documents suggesting scam ads could account for up to 10.1% of revenue, while Meta reportedly removed more than 134 million scam ads in 2025.

The report notes that the FBI issued a bulletin about fraud schemes in August 2025, underscoring the broader context of online scams alongside Google’s new reporting path.