Google has confirmed coordinated fake review extortion scams. Panic helps the extortionists. In this episode of FranchiseFuel: Chaos to Control, Brian Devine explains how franchisors can detect coordinated attacks calmly, respond correctly, and use documentation and systems to protect brand reputation and franchisee economics.

You’ll learn how to:

• Spot the signals of extortion, including review velocity spikes, duplicate phrasing, new-account patterns, and off-channel threats

• Build an incident file that preserves screenshots, timestamps, message headers, and technical metadata for platforms, counsel, and law enforcement

• Follow a repeatable response playbook: safe public replies, platform escalation with Google and others, and when to involve legal or police

Action Steps:

1. Set an alert this week for suspicious review spikes and route flagged reviews to a single response queue for human triage.

2. Create an incident file template and use it to capture screenshots, review URLs, timestamps, and any off-channel communications at the first sign of extortion.

3. Download the 15-Minute 5-Star Review Fix Kit at https://franchisefuel.ai/fixkit to build verified positive reviews that act as a reputation buffer while you resolve incidents.

Preparedness and calm documentation protect your brand. Systems win. Panic loses. For more, see https://franchisefuel.ai