Gain City flooded with negative 1-star Google reviews over 2 weeks in suspected scam

Gain City employees were contacted on their showroom numbers which are publicly listed on the company's Google Business Profile. PHOTO: GAIN CITY Ann Chen Updated Jun 19, 2026, PM Listen SINGAPORE – Electrical appliances chain Gain City was hit by a flurry of one-star reviews on Google over the last two weeks, with offers to help coming soon after from people believed to be conmen. The messages, sent to Gain City employees, arrived on the heels of the spike in negative reviews and offered to remove the one-star reviews. Responding to queries, Gain City spokeswoman Candy Cao said the first suspicious inquiry was reported by a showroom manager in early April, after which the retailer started to monitor the situation. Gain City has attracted negative reviews in the past, but they were isolated incidents, she added. In the last two weeks, however, the company observed an increase in suspicious one-star reviews, she said. Screenshots provided -star reviews, with no additional comments. Cao said: “Legitimate reviews typically contain details relating to actual customer experiences, products, services or interactions with our staff.” About two to three days after the increase in negative reviews, Gain City employees began receiving messages from strangers on WhatsApp claiming to offer a service that can wipe out the negative reviews. One offer claimed to “specialise in identifying and reporting policy-violating reviews”, with no upfront payment or account access required. Payment can be made after the negative reviews are removed, said the person, whose identify remains unclear. A similar offer, from a different number, was made in another chat discussion, but came with a screenshot of a one-star review on Gain City’s megastore. Cao said the messages were sent to showroom contact numbers that are publicly listed on the Gain City Google Business Profile listing. Gain City showrooms in Sungei Kadut, Ang Mo Kio, Marina Square, IMM and Tampines 1 were affected, she added. In some cases, showroom ratings dropped from 5 to 4.9 after the negative reviews. Gain City management was told about the WhatsApp messages, and a police report was made, Cao said. The Straits Times has contacted the police and Google for more information. In November 2025, fine-dining Restaurant Ibid in North Canal Road reported a similar Google review scam. Its chef Woo Wai Leong said the suspected scam was aimed at extracting payment to take down about 11 bad Google reviews. Woo at the time said the one-star reviews were “generic with no identifying text” regarding a typical experience at the restaurant.