Fake Google or Yelp Reviews Removed for Your New York Business — Filed With Evidence

Pain

New York runs on reviews the way few other cities do — a listing one subway stop closer, with half a star more, wins the click nearly every time.

That makes a fake review a sharper weapon here than almost anywhere else. A competitor, a former employee, or a bot drops one fabricated 1-star review on your Google or Yelp profile, and in a market this dense, it doesn't need to tank your average rating to cost you business — it just needs to sit at the top of the page the next customer scrolls past.

Most owners click "report" once, hear nothing, and stop there. The review stays. The rating stays. The next customer picks the place next door instead.

Promise

Epicware's team is based in Singapore and runs review removal for New York businesses entirely online — the audit, the evidence and the filing get done the same way no matter the time zone.

We check every review on your Google Business Profile and Yelp page against the platform's actual content policy, build evidence a moderator can act on, file it, and stay on the case until it's decided. If the platform leaves the review up, you get your money back.

The FTC's rule on consumer reviews and testimonials (16 CFR Part 465) took effect on 21 October 2024 and lets the FTC seek civil penalties for fake reviews. The Consumer Review Fairness Act voids non-disparagement clauses in consumer form contracts, so a business cannot contract its way out of honest negative reviews. In 2013, New York's Attorney General settled with 19 companies for writing or buying fake online reviews, with individual penalties ranging from $2,500 to nearly $100,000, treating the practice as false advertising and a deceptive business act — years before the FTC's federal rule made the same standard nationwide law. We only ever file against a review because it breaks that actual standard, never because a rating is simply inconvenient.

New York General Business Law Section 349 lets a private individual sue directly over a deceptive business practice — recovering actual damages or $50, whichever is greater, with damages up to $1,000 for a willful violation, plus attorney's fees — without needing the Attorney General to act first. We work the faster platform process first; a lawyer can advise separately on whether that statute is also worth pursuing.

An honest negative review, however harsh, we leave exactly where it is and help you answer well instead — a specific, professional public reply does more for the next reader than a deletion would.

What we won't do

We never report a review just because it's negative, never offer a reviewer anything to edit or delete what they wrote, and never threaten legal action over an honest opinion. Every filing we submit is one you could show a regulator.

What's included

• Review audit: every review across your New York Google Business Profile and Yelp page(s), checked against each platform's policy and sorted into removable, answerable and leave alone.
• Evidence pack: for each removable review, the exact policy it breaks plus supporting proof — a reviewer with no matching customer record, a pattern across competitor profiles, or a clear conflict-of-interest signal.
• Filing and follow-up: submitted through Google's review-management tools and Yelp for Business, with escalation and appeal pursued wherever the platform allows it.
• Reply drafts: professional, specific replies for the honest negative reviews we leave in place.
• Monitoring: new reviews flagged as they land, so a fake-review attack gets caught in hours, not after it's already cost you bookings.

Proof

50+ negative reviews removed for clients.

Singapore results.

Software

EpicReview watches your Google profile around the clock and drafts replies in your brand voice, so one person can manage reviews across every New York location.

Offer

• Price: USD 200 per Google review, USD 350 per Yelp review, paid upfront.
• Guarantee: full refund for any review the platform doesn't remove.
• No-cost first step: a free review audit — most owners find out within a day which reviews are genuinely removable.

FAQ

New York settled with 19 companies over fake reviews back in 2013 — is that case still relevant?

The specific settlement is over a decade old, but the legal theory behind it — that fabricated reviews are false advertising and a deceptive business practice — is exactly the standard the FTC's 2024 federal rule later codified nationwide. New York was simply an early mover on an idea that's now federal law.

Can I personally sue someone for posting a fake review about my New York business?

New York's General Business Law gives an individual a direct right to sue over a deceptive practice, without waiting on the Attorney General — but that's a slower, costlier path than a platform removal, and the statute is a broad deceptive-practices law, not a reviews-specific one, so outcomes depend heavily on the facts. We start with the platform's own process because it's faster and doesn't require litigation; a lawyer can advise on whether a legal claim is also worth pursuing.

I run a business across multiple NYC boroughs — does one review audit cover all of them?

Yes. Each borough location typically has its own Google Business Profile and Yelp page, and we audit every one of them as a single coordinated engagement rather than treating each address separately.

Does Yelp treat a "Not Recommended" review the same as a removed one?

No, and this trips up a lot of New York businesses. A review Yelp's software doesn't recommend stays visible through a link at the bottom of the page and doesn't count toward the star rating or review count — it isn't deleted, and Yelp staff can't manually move it back. A genuine removal is a separate action against a specific policy breach, which is what we file for.

What if the fake review came from a former employee, not a customer?

That's one of the more common New York patterns we see, and it's documentable — a reviewer with no purchase or visit history, posting language that reads like a workplace grievance rather than a customer complaint, is the kind of pattern that supports a conflict-of-interest or fake-engagement filing.

How quickly does a filed New York review usually get a decision?

Typically days to a few weeks for an initial decision, longer if it's appealed. We follow up at every stage and tell you the outcome either way.

More US review-removal guides

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• Los Angeles Google & Yelp review removal
• Yelp review removal, in depth
• Google review removal, in depth
• Back to US review removal overview

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