A Briton revealed that Google has finally removed a fake online review of his business on Google's Places that mentioned him as a pedophile after his request to delete it have been ignored for 18 months. Unfortunately, the damage had been done.

Toni Bennett, owner of That Computer Chap computer repair shop, said he lost 80 percent of his local business as a result of the online comment by "Paul" posted on Google's site on April 26, 2010, according to BBC.

The review said: "Robbed My RAM and Touched 9 Year Old What a scam artist, he stole RAM from my computer and replaced it with smaller chips hoping I wouldnt notice and also I later found out touched my 9 year old inappropriately. A Violator and a rogue trader. DO NOT DO TRADE WITH THIS MAN!"

Bennett said he read the posting a few days later and emailed Google numerous times to remove it but received no reply. When he found the Google telephone number from a directory assistance service, he called it but no one answered. He went to the police but he was told they could not intervene.

Bennett said Google's belated response was to deny his demand to remove the fake review because "it did not qualify for removal." So he contemplated suing the search engine company for defamation.

Google told BBC that it does not comment on individual cases, does not arbitrate disputes and allows business owners to respond to reviews. The company later removed the posting saying it re-reviews comments flagged as inappropriate from time to time.

The case of Bennett is a warning to others that a business can be sabotage within five minutes by a fake online review, according to Kiwkchex, a private company that helps businesses and consumers handle online defamation. In fact, the 8-month-old startup owned by Chris Emmins already handles 3,000 cases.

"Online defamation is soaring and both consumers and reputable businesses suffer," Kwikchex said on its website.
Tens of thousands of online reviews are posted every year and the number of review sites is difficult to count, according to Emmins. He called on internet firms to take more responsibility for their content.

Emmins is organizing an "honest web summit" and is calling for a change in the law to tackle the issue of fake online reviews.

"We are inviting a wide range of businesses, including some of the most influential such as Google, Microsoft, TripAdvisor and Yelp to attend an Honest Web Summit, where the scale and consequences of online deception can be fully examined and solutions proposed. Other relevant businesses and organisations will also be invited to attend," Kwikchex posted on its site.

Among the proposed topics for the summit are preventing freedom of deceit on the Internet and improved methods for identifying and tackling online scams.