SINGAPORE – It is not unusual for a restaurant to receive bad reviews, but being bombarded by numerous scathing one-star reviews over the course of a day led chef Woo Wai Leong to believe his restaurant was the target of a scam.
The chef-owner of Asian fusion fine-dining Restaurant Ibid in North Canal Road took to Instagram Stories on Nov 7 to share his account.
“We have been the target of a scam attempting to extract payment to take down a string of 11 bad Google reviews,” he wrote.
The inaugural winner of competitive cooking game show MasterChef Asia 2015 added that the allegedly fake reviews were from “suspicious accounts with zero other reviews”. Also, the comments were “generic with no identifying text regarding the typical Restaurant Ibid experience”.
Woo, 37, added that he subsequently received WhatsApp messages from an overseas number. The sender claimed he had another 300 bad reviews lined up, and was “offering to take down the reviews for a fee”.
Woo, a former lawyer who opened Restaurant Ibid in 2017, told The Straits Times that he lodged a police report on Nov 7. He has not received any more threats from the alleged scammer.
He added that since his online post, the restaurant had received several favourable Google reviews from past diners. “I’m really thankful for the outpouring of support over the past 72 hours,” he said.
Though Restaurant Ibid is an establishment recognised by the Michelin Guide, reviews on Google still matter a lot, said Woo, explaining that reviews give the restaurant visibility.
“Reviews still matter because a lot of my customers find us through Google,” he said.
Woo said he personally responds to reviews left on Google, and learns from comments to improve the dining experience. However, he said not all of them are credible.
“There was one review that did not make sense as it mentioned having to wait about 40 minutes before being attended to,” said the restaurateur.
“We have three seatings per evening, between 6.30 and 8.30pm. My team may be small, but we get to our guests the moment they arrive. We only cater to a maximum of 16 diners, and we don’t turn tables,” he said.
“We only offer a tasting menu; there are no a la carte items,” he added, referring to a review that claimed staff forgot orders.
He added that raising the issue was not a publicity stunt, but to create awareness about a “potential new scam”.
“Small businesses are very vulnerable to such scams. The best way to protect ourselves is to make it public. We have to band together as a community to fight back; how many businesses can afford to pay the scammers?”
He added: “This sort of scam does not only affect restaurants – yoga studios, bookshops, fashion shops… any businesses listed on Google can be affected.”
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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
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