Please Help, we're being blackmailed by a scammer

I am the owner of a roof repair business in the UK and I have major problems with a blog owner who is posting false negative reviews about my website. This person asked me for money in order to remove the bad reviews. I paid him. He asked to be paid by a service called Liberty Reserve, I had to send a wire transfer to a website he provided. I paid 300 pounds. Then he removed the reviews. Now he is back and asking for more money. I am desperate, I don't know what to do, a friend who understands about computers advised me that I must search an online community and ask for advice. I am 42 years old and I only know how to use the internet and my email. When the false negative reviews appeared on google, I lost 80% of my customers, people calling my office calling us scammers. It was horrible. Please, I need some advice if possible.

This is one of the email I received from him:

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/8602/nomuie.jpg


http://www.http://www.netscammers.blogspot.com is the blog of no_muie, the person who is asking for money from us.

Thank you

Stuart

 

I wouldn't suggest giving into the threats; I actually highly advise AGAINST any form of payments. You will simply have to reply to the complaints that are posted and make them public. This is a hard situation in which really does negatively impact many online businesses. Similar things have happened to my business(es).

 

Go to your local police authorities. This sounds like illegal extortion to me.

 

If i were you, I would make a special section on your site about this scammer scamming you...
create a section, and explain your story, and post his emails, and website...If he is going to
use your website against you to extort, then use his website against him.

but why did he write a bad review, was he a customer of yours?

I also have to question "i lost 80%" of my business...

from someone using a free blog?

If you are good at what you do, then it wont matter what is on any free blog.

Something just sounds fishy with this story...

 

What is your country? Here in our country there is a law about Internet fraud.
And honestly the blog looks like a scam to me created to earn a lot of money
and it's not SEO friendly at all. Plus I have a thoughts in my mind how did they
know your transactions? Seek help to your authorities and look if this blog is
a scammer or what. Or you can seek help by a good system analyst that can
track down this person's location. And after you know his whereabouts, file
a complain against him. Hope your problem can be fix asap..

 

report him to google and show them your email.
google can deindex him.

report him to ripoffreport.com
report him to any ripoff report site

 

You have two ways of fighting back .

1) Report him whit the evidence you've got to : The Police (the UK cops will be happy to help you and give you further advice)
Google (effectively shutting down all his Google related activites) , to his webhost provider and his domain name provider . If you have any information on his ISP report him to his ISP provider to . That will hamper his extortion activity even further and might even deny him the access
to Internet .
2) NOT RECOMMENDED Ask someone to deface his website : replacing his content whit something like a gotse pic or a lolacat pic will make his traffic and trust plummet .

 

Are you mad?

He will never give up now that you've paid him.

Are you telling me that 80%of your customers are internet users who visited their site and then stopped doing business with you. Seems a bit of an exaggeration. If it's really that bad, do the following.

1. As others have suggested, call the police. Blackmail is illegal. They will help you. Forget the lawyer, go to the police.

2. There was never a "contract". Do you really think someone who blackmails you will concern himself with "contracts". You can't contract for illegal services, at least not in an legal way.

3. As DSCurlock says, counter the scamming notices on your own web site. Make it prominent. Don't mention names or web sites, just counter the negative posts being made.

4. Do not pay him another penny. You were suckered for £300, he now wants £1000, and it will increase until you can no longer pay.

5. Contact the ISP if you need to but don't expect instant (or any) results. The upstream IP providers might be more helpful or the datacentre his site is located in.

6. Get him. Call the police NOW.

 

if you have any documentary evidence that he blackmailed you, contact the police immediately. They like this sort of thing. If he has any assets, you can sue him for loss of business, mental distress etc. The Police will track him down via his ISP and if an exyradition treaty exists, get him extradited to your country to stand trial. DMCA his host.

And finally, grow up. When you pay a blackmailer what the F*H*ll did you think would happen? That he would go away?

Honestly.

 

I do think anybody is going to be extradited for a $300 crime.

Oh yeah, and people should ignore everything dscurlock says in legal threads. He is clueless about the law and anyone following his advice on any legal thread is foolish.

 

I appreciate it isn't much, but extortion is a serious legal matter and anyone who carries it out is a nasty piece of work. The police will be interested in taking matters further, and if the perptrator is within the EU then there's a good chance he will be arrested - I believe there's some sort of reciprocal agreement in the EU where the British Police can go and make the arrest themselves - and extradition will be a relatively simple matter. If he's outside the EU then it becomes more difficult and the amount involved may have a bearing.

 

That 300 pounds you paid the blackmailer would have been put to far better use hiring a soliciter. He would have told you not to pay, and who you should contact (like his online providers) to not only get him to stop, but also how to interest the authorities in tracking the wanker down.

 

Stuart, since you say "I am 42 years old and I only know how to use the internet and my email" how is it that you know how to post this exact same thread on many different forums? And why did you pick mostly forums for internet users, than say a law forum? And how do you happen to know how to load an image on imageshack? That's not something everyone knows.

I had to be suspicious, but your story smells funny. If it's real, go to the police. If it's not, please stop using forum members to play whatever game you are up to.

 

Seems pretty dodgy that 80% of his clients read the same blog. Doesn't quite add up...