People choosing to dine out are being urged to “read beyond reviews” after top restaurants have been flooded by fake reviews on Google, the Restaurant Association says.

A number of restaurants, including The French Cafe, Sidart, The Sugar Club and Cassia at SkyCity, have been “spammed” with reviews - most believed to be fake - in the past week.

Overseas, it has been reported internet scammers often start by posting five-star reviews from fake accounts.

They then follow up by threatening to leave unfavourable “one-star” reviews unless they receive payment or gift certificates.

Cassia restaurant, Sky City, Auckland got 94 reviews overnight. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

Restaurant Association chief executive Marissa Bidois said the scammers were using ratings to specifically target businesses that were often powerless to do anything.

“Bad reviews can have a really big impact on hospitality businesses, bringing down their overall rating,” Bidois said.

“If left unaddressed, they can affect where a customer chooses to dine, which is the last thing these businesses need while they are still recovering from the pandemic and this year’s weather events.”

“It’s imperative that ratings review sites are continuously checking the legitimacy of the reviews to put an end to this,” Bidois said.

 “We’d also recommend that diners do more thorough research when choosing places to dine and ensure that they read beyond the reviews.”

Marisa Bidois, CEO of the Restaurant Association. Photo / Supplied

Chand Sharawat, co-founder of several restaurants including The French Cafe, Sidart and Cassia, said she was shocked to wake up to 94 reviews of Cassia yesterday.

“Most of them are good reviews, actually 84 gave us five-star reviews, but it’s not right because they are fake,” she said.

“If we see what’s happening overseas, often what will follow is these people coming back extorting for money and say if they can do 100 good reviews, what’s stopping them from doing 500 bad reviews.”

Chand Sahrawat, co-owner and operations director of Kol, Cassia and the French Cafe. Photo / Michael Craig

Sharawat said the reviews were “obviously fake” as some said they loved the breakfast and coffee at The French Cafe, when the restaurant did not open for breakfast.

She has written a complaint to Google, but they only removed two of the posts.

Sharawat said tourists and visitors to Auckland often relied on reviews to choose which restaurants to dine at, and fake reviews could really have a negative impact on businesses.

Masu by Nic Watt has also been hit by fake reviews. Photo / Babiche Martens

A SkyCity spokeswoman said it was aware a number of restaurants in New Zealand were being targeted by fake reviews.

“This is similar to what we have seen happen in other countries,” she said.

“We have contacted Google to try and get the matter resolved. We are yet to hear back.

“In the meantime, we encourage customers to only take into consideration legitimate reviews and the reputation our restaurants already have.”

The practices are reported to have been streamlined by organised groups in India, but variations have been observed by scammers in other countries.