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A single mom has revealed the shocking way scammers threatened to destroy her small business unless she paid up.
Gina Tsigaris, owner of Sydney-based removalist company Move it with Gina, said her 11-year reputation was suddenly thrown into jeopardy when her online profile was targeted in an elaborate extortion scam.
“It happened so fast. Over three days, I was suddenly getting bombarded with terrible one-star reviews,” Tsigaris told news.com.au.
The fake reviewers left damaging feedback on her Google profile, claiming her staff was “unprofessional” and had “overcharged” them.
“Gina’s movers were reckless and broke our expensive items. Avoid this company,” the scammer’s review read.
“Horrible experience with Move it with Gina. They were unprofessional and mishandled our belongings,” a second fake comment read.
A third was added: “Overcharged us and didn’t deliver some of our boxes. Terrible service.”
Shortly after the sudden influx of one-star ratings, the sinister motive became clear.
Tsigaris said she then received a series of suspicious WhatsApp messages from a Pakistani phone number, threatening to continue the barrage of fake reviews unless she immediately paid them $60.
Crucially, she “ignored” the texts, instead taking matters into her own hands and immediately contacting Google to complain.
“I ignored the scammer because I know that if you do give them money, then they can easily go in and wipe your bank account clean and take all the funds in there,” she explained.
“I know people who have been scammed like that before.”
From humble beginnings
For Tsigaris, the scam wasn’t just about the money — it was a hit to her hard-earned reputation.
The mom-of-six built her business from the ground up to support her family, relying heavily on word-of-mouth and grassroots support.
The 53-year-old started out from humble beginnings as a “professional packer and cleaner,” before quickly realising the gap in the market for her unique offerings if she combined them with removal services.
“One day, I decided to buy a truck, and it honestly just took off. From there, one truck turned into seven trucks.”
Today, her Bondi Beach-based business has expanded to employ 30 people. But operating in a male-dominated industry is still an uphill battle.
“I work in an industry that already stigmatises a female removalist,” she explained. “So a lot of my work comes through word of mouth and positive Google reviews.”
Ms Tsigaris added she would much rather receive genuine negative feedback in person so she can make amends, rather than being hit with a damaging public rating.
‘Anyone can post a bad review’
Tsigaris said tech giants like Google should be doing more to protect small businesses from being targeted by these kinds of scams.
“The lack of communication with Google was disappointing,” she said.
“It was difficult to get in touch with them, and it took days to get the issue resolved.
“Timing is crucial in these things because anyone could have read those bad reviews, and the outcomes can be really damaging.”
She suggested a simple fix to the tech giant’s vetting system could prevent this from happening to others.
“Reviewers should be required to at least show proof of an invoice of a service being completed; otherwise, anyone can just go out there and post a bad review,” she said.
But a spokesperson from Google said the company considers deliberately inauthentic or incorrect content in violation of its policies, and acted fast to remedy the issue with Ms Tsigaris.
“We confirm we investigated and fixed this as a matter of urgency when it was reported,” the spokesperson told news.com.au.
“Our policies clearly state that reviews must be based on real experiences and information.
“If we find fake reviews that violate our policies, we take appropriate action, including removing them.”
Now that the posts have been taken down, the savvy business owner wants other people to know that it’s actually quite easy to spot a scam once you know what to look for.
“If they haven’t had much activity on their profile, and it’s a new account, most likely with no photo, then it’s probably a scam,” she advised.
“Additionally, putting a one-star review just tells you that it’s either nasty or malicious, and it’s more than likely not genuine.”
Despite the stressful saga, Tsigaris hopes her story won’t deter other women or moms from chasing their entrepreneurial dreams.
“If you believe in yourself and you let go of that fear, the world really is your oyster,” she said. “You can do anything you want to do.”
