Ripoff Report Complaints: What is it & How to Remove It From the Internet in 2024

I learned about a way that customers can mess with your business, and it’s called Ripoff Report. As someone who doesn’t like this, I want to help prevent these reports from affecting your business.

I’ll explain what it is, how to remove fake reports, and other important information.

Let’s start with the basics.

Key Takeaways

• The site gets little traffic in 2024.
• The best approach is to report false reports to Google and Bing.
• Ripoff Report’s “services” are not worth the money.
• They won’t remove negative reviews.
• You can’t sue them because of Communications Decency Act protection.

We are not lawyers. None of what we publish is legal advice. Consult with an actual legal firm for guidance.

What is Ripoff Report?

Ripoff Report is a consumer-driven website where users post negative reviews and complaints about businesses, products, or individuals. It “aims” to warn others about potential scams or unsatisfactory experiences.

You want to know the issue with this website?

It allows folks to publish anonymous reviews.

Thus. An unhappy customer could flood the website with fake reviews.

That means anyone can create a profile with a throwaway email, write a review about a business they dislike, and face no consequences.

According to Consumer Affairs, 94% of Ripoff Report reviews are 1-star, and many users seem to be posting for personal attacks [1].

Isn’t that defamation? Oh, don’t worry. We’ll get into that later.

Should you worry about these articles? Somewhat. More details will follow.

Businesses should be more concerned with chargebacks, which can result in losing your ability to process payments.

We can help your business prevent chargebacks. See how we can help.

For now, let’s learn why it’s so hard to remove these reports.

Summary: Ripoff Report is a site where customers can review companies.

Why Is it Hard to Remove Content from Ripoff Report?

Ripoff Report makes it tough to remove content due to strict non-removal policies and potential legal hurdles. The site claims this approach maintains its stance as a consumer advocacy platform.

Do Not Give Ripoff Report Money

Here are the paid solutions they offer and why (in my opinion) you should avoid them:

The Corporate Advocacy Program

Paying Ripoff Report for this means they’ll make your business look “positive” in the search engine results page.

Like this:

You know what happened when I followed that Google link?

Ripoff Report wasn’t anywhere on the search engine results page. I even went through the first 10 pages and couldn’t find anything.

Why pay for them to change how a review title appears on Google?

The Guardian+ Program highlights the positive aspects of your business. If the customer sees something negative, they’re going to focus on that instead of the positive.

The VIP Arbitration process is basically you paying them to de-index (not remove) your review.

And the Verified program is them saying that Ripoff Report will actually investigate customer claims. Because they don’t investigate, otherwise.

The best way to make money is to create a problem to sell a solution for (allegedly). Right?

Some might consider these services as extortion…

Anyway.

Let’s get into removing these ridiculous reports without paying thousands of dollars.

How to Remove False Reports from Ripoff Reports

This is critical to know.

You will need to check BOTH URLs for fake reviews:

• ripoffreport.com
• ripoffreports.com

The same company owns both domains. Check the copyright information:

That means if there’s a fake review on one site, the same review’s likely on the other.

I could never figure out whether ripoffreports.com is a phishing site. Don’t give your information to them.

This allegedly — and likely — has something to do with search engine optimization (SEO). If a “review” from one site isn’t ranking, then the other has a chance to rank higher in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).

Ripoff Report no longer dominates search engines like it used to. Unless you’re certain the site is causing you to lose many customers, it’s not worth your time or money to deal with it.

But the best way to “remove” a report is to suppress it further in search engine results.

To do that, you’ll need to start reporting websites.

Steps to Take If You Need to Act

To suppress a report further in search results, follow this process. Focus on Google, which holds 81.95% of the market share:

1. Grab the URL of the negative review
2. Head to this page and fill out the form
3. Ensure the review violates Google’s Terms of Service.
4. Submit the form and wait for a response.

For Bing, the process is similar. Fill out their form to report violations.

Avoid wasting time on smaller search engines. They don’t have enough market share to justify the effort.

Even if the review doesn’t violate any terms, don’t stress. De-indexing might not last forever, as Ripoff Report has allegedly found ways to avoid removals in the past.

In 2017, an investigation suspected them of changing URLs to dodge takedowns [2].

You could contact their legal department, but I’ve heard that this process takes forever. And in many cases, they still won’t remove the review.

Here’s the URL to their contact page: https://www.ripoffreport.com/contact-us

And you could sue them. But they’re protected by the law I’ll cover in the next section.

How Does Ripoff Report Avoid Defamation Lawsuits?

Ripoff Report avoids defamation suits because the Communications Decency Act (CDA) protects it. This act shields online platforms that host user-generated content from such lawsuits.

This law, enacted in 1996, prevents “information content providers” from being held responsible for content users post. So long as the site doesn’t contribute to creating that content.

Just in case, here’s a quick definition for defamation:

Defamation, whether written (libel) or spoken (slander), involves making false statements that harm someone’s reputation.

This law, while having good intentions, is allegedly abused by companies like this. They claim to act on behalf of the customers, but instead provide a hub where folks can allegedly write fake reviews on individuals or companies.

Which, in extension, comes back and bites the customer in the butt. Since many legitimate businesses lose money due to allegedly fake reviews.

Here’s another way that people abuse the CDA.

Ripoff Report Scams: Don’t Succumb to Pressure

Some people exploit the platform by posting fake reviews and then offering to remove them in exchange for money. But since Ripoff Report doesn’t allow users to edit or remove reviews, this offer is a scam.

Don’t pay these people. It’s a waste of money.

Should you even worry about these reports?

Should I Worry About Negative Ripoff Reports?

While Ripoff Report’s search engine traffic has drastically dropped since 2018, it still has a presence, especially on social media. They have a Facebook page with around 48,000 followers, though they haven’t posted since 2023.

While they aren’t gone completely, their influence is much weaker than before. Reports on Ripoff Report are less likely to impact your business as much as they once did.

What proof do I have of this claim?

When researching this article, I found a “fun” graph that comes from an SEO tool known as Semrush:

Source: Guaranteed Removals

This shows information for ripoffreport.com. Not ripoffreports.com.

This graph shows that since 2018, Ripoff Reports’ organic traffic — hits from search engines — have dropped to nearly zero.

This suggests that search engines like Google penalized their site during an algorithm update. Resulting in the sharp decline.

Since we’re talking about search engines, we’ll never know what really happened.

They don’t like to share their secrets.

What about other “review” sites?

Complaints Board is another site similar to Ripoff Report.

This one’s easy to fix:

Click the 3 vertical dots, press ‘report,’ create an account, and wait.

And that’s about all I have to cover.

Conclusion

Ripoff Report isn’t the threat it used to be. Search engines like Google have deprioritized it, leading to a sharp decline in traffic. While the site isn’t gone, it’s less relevant now.

Focus on more pressing concerns, like preventing chargebacks, which can harm your business in more tangible ways. While we don’t manage online reputations, we do offer tools to reduce chargebacks by up to 91%.

If chargebacks are hurting your business, let us help.

Sources

• [1] Ripoff Reports Reviews. Consumer Affairs. 9/22/2024.
• [2] Is Ripoff Report subverting Google take-downs? Search Engine Land. 4/19/2017.