POWELL, Ohio — A Powell business owner said he was flooded by bad Google reviews from a scammer, who asked for $5,000 to remove them, in part of a negative review extortion scam that Google is warning business owners about nationwide.

Robert Koehler opened his Zoom Drain Columbus franchise about a year and a half ago, and said business has been going well. That is why he was confused when he received a string of one-star reviews from customers he never worked with.

“It started off as a panic,” Koehler said.

The reviews came in one by one, spaced just minutes apart.

“We thought we are getting attacked, our reputation is getting attacked,” Koehler said.

The reviews came from accounts with names including “Yooin Yooin”, “Mooin Mooin” and “Jones Jones”. Several of them listed concerns wit

See Full Page