KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 1 – So you thought today was your lucky day… you’re invited to review restaurants and get paid for it. The only downside is… it’s a scam.
Malaysia Post was made aware of this scam by Bijan Bar & Restaurant (Bijan).
On July 27, Selena Mak, Senior Sales and Marketing Manager at Bijan, received a message from a friend telling her that she had been invited via WhatsApp to join a Google Review group.
In this group chat, people were asked to complete the first task of the day and were promised RM15.90 as a reward for completing the task.
The message also asked people to Google “Bijan Bar & Restaurant” and give it 5 stars.
A link to Bijan’s Google review page was also provided, encouraging users to leave a positive review.
Bijan informs the public about such scams on his social media platforms. — Screenshots courtesy of Bijan
Mak’s friend said that people were just leaving reviews to get paid for them. She asked if Bijan knew about it and if it was a scam.
Mak was shocked by the spread of such news and immediately posted a message on Bijan’s social media page to inform people about the scam.
Their statement reads: “We were recently notified of fraudulent messages asking customers to write a paid Google review for Bijan. Please note that these messages are not from us and have nothing to do with our restaurant. Your honest feedback is always valuable and appreciated, but we never ask for payment or offer incentives for reviews.”
However, this scam is not new, as it has already appeared as a job offer on online portals.
As reported in March 2023 by The StarPahang Police Chief Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf confirmed that a preschool teacher’s assistant was defrauded of RM30,483.
She had responded to a message on an online job portal asking her to write and publish reviews about restaurants and other establishments, with the prospect of a commission for each review submitted.
She was later asked to make several deposits, which she did into four different bank accounts before realizing she had been scammed.
This is not only happening in Malaysia.
There are numerous reports of similar scams from India. The Times of India In January of this year, it was reported that scammers were tricking people into leaving restaurant reviews on Google and then extorting their money.
On Linkedin, Shekhar Gupta also described in detail how the paid restaurant review scam worked in India.
Similar to the WhatsApp message above, you will be assigned tasks and you will be paid once you submit the review. In India, there are what is called recharge tasks where people have to pay a certain amount of money and you get the money back along with a 50 percent commission.
These scams not only harm the individual but also the reputation of a restaurant as many people think that the restaurants are offering money for Google reviews.
“All of our Google reviews come from our guests and we do not manipulate or delete the reviews in any way,” Mak said.
She added: “We keep it transparent and will never pay for Google reviews.”
