Somebody affiliated with Myeongdong Mud posted on Reddit claiming that they lost close to 800 reviews. In the post, they claim that they didn’t receive any warnings from Google. They also claim that they didn’t “provide discounts, gifts, or compensation in exchange for reviews.” They also replied, stating, “The support agent confirmed that reviews were missing and escalated the case to a specialist team.”
I looked into their reviews and found evidence suggesting they are offering gifts in exchange for reviews. Several reviewers mentioned in their reviews that they were given gifts in exchange for a review. It appears that this practice dates back to March 16, 2025.
Several reviews posted photos showing the same gift bag. The biggest red flag is the following image uploaded with this review. It shows the same gift bag above the QR code to leave a Google review.
Google does remove reviews all the time. It doesn’t appear that Google is aware of the potential offer of a free gift in exchange for a review. If Google did, they would wipe out reviews to a certain date. The business is still able to receive reviews after the reviews disappeared. There is a known technical glitch, but in this case. If this is the case and the reviews return, this business will lose its reviews dating back to March 16, 2025, as soon as Google sees these reviews.