'Fake reviewers demanding a ransom are threatening to ruin my restaurant - it’s frightening'

And restaurateurs say they are at their wits’ end that online sites can be too slow to react when the issue is raised.

Restaurateurs have faced challenges since the rise of online reviews made them vulnerable to customers who might want to seek free drinks or a discount on their bill.

Most restaurants have encountered end-of-the-evening conversations with those who’ve effectively blackmailed venues into providing a discount or a free drink, under pain of facing a bad review if they do not.

But the problem has become more serious as scammers hone in on restaurateurs and tell them that they will post numerous negative reviews in a bid to damage their business.

Organised criminals with multiple email accounts and the ability to post numerous damaging reviews are seeking to extort funds from business owners.

Sam Morgan, boss of The Open Restaurant Group, today spoke up on the issue, revealing he has been battling extortion during the past two weeks. He has released dozens of messages from an individual who has demanded a four-figure ransom to avoid negative reviews being posted.

Mr Morgan runs six restaurants, including The Bracebridge, at Sutton Park, near Walsall. His other restaurants are near Birmingham and near Liverpool.

Mr Morgan was contacted by a scammer who demanded money and threatened to post bad reviews if a transfer was not made to a PayPal account.

He refused to pay and contacted Tripadvisor and Google to say he had been the victim of an extortion attempt by a blackmailer. When Mr Morgan refused to comply with a deadline set by the criminal, a negative online review was posted.

Mr Morgan said: “It’s frightening what people will do and as a business owner there’s only one way to respond – you have to stand firm and say no.

“If you’re weak and agree to pay, these people will simply come back for more and drain your business until it goes under.”

Mr Morgan said there were two issues that restaurateurs were having to deal with. The first was the criminal act of extortion and blackmail by people seeking cash.

The second was the delays and non-responses from online platform, who were slow to respond to proven cases of extortion and failed to take down fake reviews, thereby becoming complicit in damaging businesses.