Terrifying way single moms small business was targeted in extortion scam: It happened so fast

A single mom has revealed the shocking way scammers threatened to destroy her small business unless she paid up.Gina Tsigaris, owner of Sydney-based removalist company Move it with Gina, said her 11-year reputation was suddenly thrown into jeopardy when her online profile was targeted in an elaborate extortion scam.“It happened so fast.Over three days, I was suddenly getting bombarded with terrible one-star reviews,” Tsigaris told news.com.au.The fake reviewers left damaging feedback on her Google profile, claiming her staff was “unprofessional” and had “overcharged” them.“Gina’s movers were reckless and broke our expensive items.

Avoid this company,” the scammer’s review read.“Horrible experience with Move it with Gina.They were unprofessional and mishandled our belongings,” a second fake comment read.A third was added: “Overcharged us and didn’t deliver some of our boxes.

Terrible service.”Shortly after the sudden influx of one-star ratings, the sinister motive became clear.Tsigaris said she then received a series of suspicious WhatsApp messages from a Pakistani phone number, threatening to continue the barrage of fake reviews unless she immediately paid them $60.Crucially, she “ignored” the texts, instead taking matters into her own hands and immediately contacting Google to complain.“I ignored the scammer because I know that if you do give them money, then they can easily go in and wipe your bank account clean and take all the funds in there,” she explained.“I know people who have been scammed like that before.”From humble beginningsFor Tsigaris, the scam wasn’t just about the money — it was a hit to her hard-earned reputation.The mom-of-six built her business from the ground up to support her family, relying heavily on word-of-mouth and grassroots support.The 53-year-old started out from humble beginnings as a “professional packer and cleaner,” before quickly realising the gap in the market for her unique offe...