The short answer
The merchant extortion report form is linked from Google's help article Report negative review extortion scams on your Business Profile. It is only for cases where someone demanded money, goods or services in exchange for removing reviews. It asks for your contact details and role, the business name, address and profile link, the suspicious reviews, and how the person contacted you, with screenshots attached.
Where the form lives
Search Google's Business Profile Help for the article titled Report negative review extortion scams on your Business Profile. The article describes the scam and links to the merchant extortion report form. It sits apart from the Reviews Management Tool, which is where single reviews are reported. The form is easiest to reach from that help article rather than by searching for the form itself.
Open it on a computer. You will be pasting links and attaching several files, which is slow on a phone. Keep your Business Profile open in another tab so you can copy the exact name, address and link.
Who the form is for
Google says this channel is only for cases where you were directly targeted with a demand for money or favors in exchange for review removal. The pattern it describes is a sudden rise in one and two star reviews followed by that demand. For reviews that break a policy for other reasons, such as spam or off topic content, Google points you to its standard reporting process.
A demand can take many forms: cash, a bank transfer, crypto, gift cards, free services or a refund for a purchase that never happened. Google's wording covers money, goods or services, so any of these count. If nobody has asked you for anything yet, report the wave through the Reviews Management Tool for now and keep your evidence. A demand can arrive days later, and Google asks when you first noticed the spike as well as when the demand came.
See which of your reviews break a rule.
The check reads every low review on your listing and labels it. Free, and nothing is filed until you pick.
What the form asks for
- Your contact information and your relationship to the business.
- The business name, full address and a link to its Business Profile.
- Details of the suspicious negative reviews.
- Details of how the person contacted you and what they demanded.
- Screenshots and files showing the messages and other evidence.
Most of the work goes into the last two items. Google wants the sender's details as fully as you have them: phone numbers, email addresses, social media profiles, usernames and any payment details they sent.
Filling it in
- 1
Gather your evidence first
Have the screenshots, review links and log ready before you open the form. The guide on documenting a review attack covers each item.
- 2
Your details
Use the email linked to your Business Profile if you can, and state your role plainly: owner, manager, or the person who handles the listing.
- 3
The business
Copy the name and address exactly as they appear on the profile, and paste the profile link from Google Maps.
- 4
The reviews
List each suspicious review with its direct link, reviewer name and date. Put them in the order they arrived.
- 5
The demand
Say how they reached you, from which number, email or profile, on what date, and what they asked for. Quote the demand word for word.
- 6
Keep a copy
Before you submit, copy your description into your log and note the date and time. You will want it if more reviews arrive or Google gets in touch.
- 7
Attach and submit
Attach the screenshots of the messages and reviews, read it through once, then submit.
What to write in the description
Keep it factual and in order. A short version reads like this: On [date] we received [number] one star reviews with no text within [number] days. On [date], a WhatsApp message from the number in the attached screenshot asked for payment to remove them and said more would follow. Links to each review and the full chat are attached. Fill in the brackets with your own dates and counts.
Leave out guesses and feelings. If you believe a competitor is behind it, say so only if you have something that shows it, such as a message or a matching account name. Plain facts with dates are what an investigator can check.
The attack report builder on this site writes this description and the evidence list from your log, ready to paste.
After you submit
Google says its team investigates and notifies you of the result, and that it does not share the details of the investigation. It does not publish a timeline. Google also advises not to pay or negotiate with the person while you wait. If the wave continues, keep logging new reviews and new messages, unanswered, so everything is ready if Google asks for more.
Some reviews in the wave may break a policy in their own wording, such as copied text or a phone number. The free review check labels each low review on your listing against Google's policies, so you can see which of them can also be filed one by one.
Other places to report the demand
The extortion form deals with your Google listing. The demand itself can also be reported in the app it came through, using its report option, and to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, which takes reports of fraud and scams. If a message threatens violence against you or your staff, contact your local police as well, and keep a copy of what you gave them with the rest of your evidence.