British man arrested for bad reviews of Phuket restaurant
Once upon a time, restaurant reviews were left to newspaper critics, who made a living dining at restaurants and picking apart everything from the bread service to the wine list. Now, of course, nearly every human on earth has a place in the review arena thanks to social media platforms.
Anything can sometimes be used as a weapon, bringing its repercussions along for the ride. And one British expat living in Thailand decided to use Google reviews as a form of revenge — with the results backfiring on him.
A British national was arrested for leaving negative reviews of a Phuket restaurant following a dispute with the owner, Royal Thai Police officers reported. The man was arrested recently in Bangkok, while the dispute took place in 2022 in Phuket.
The arrest was conducted by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of the Royal Thai Police and was announced on its official Facebook pages on Thursday (May 9).
The exact date of the arrest was not disclosed by the CIB, but the conflict that led to the charges occurred in 2022, when the British man, identified only as Alexander, was staying at some rental accommodation in Phuket.
Alexander” is accused of asking friends to bombard Google with one-star reviews of the restaurant, causing its rating to sink from 4.8 stars to 3.1.
According to the CIB report, the most convenient path to his room passed through an Italian restaurant, which Alexander preferred to use. The conflict began after the restaurant owner requested that Alexander use the main route to avoid disturbing diners.
At some stage later, the owner of the venues noticed that his restaurant’s rating on Google plummeted from 4.9 stars to 3.1 stars due to a slew of new 1-star reviews. Suspecting foul play, the owner accused Mr. Alexander and filed a complaint with the police.
The CIB has not specified whether Mr. Alexander was a tourist or an expatriate resident. However, he was recently arrested in Bangkok based on the restaurant owner’s complaint and charged with "entering false information into a computer system in a way that is likely to cause damage to others but which is not an offence of defamation according to the Criminal Code."
Following his arrest, Alexander was taken to Sakhu Police Station in the northern part of Phuket.
The moral of the story? While revenge may be a dish best served cold, don’t use social media to get back at someone.
Source: External
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