In July 2022, before the extortion wave that would hit Chicago restaurants again in 2025, Beverly Kim — James Beard Award winner for Best Chef, Great Lakes (2019) — was among the first Chicago chefs to face coordinated review extortion at her restaurant Parachute in Avondale.
The first wave
Waves of one-star reviews with no text appeared on Google. Then came identical emails to restaurant owners claiming responsibility, sent under the pseudonym "Tri Toan Nguyen." The demand: $75 Google Play gift cards. The scammers claimed to be from India and said the gift card resale proceeds provided "three weeks of income."
Other targeted restaurants included some of Chicago's most acclaimed: Adalina, EL Ideas, Elske, Ever, Galit, Next Restaurant, Oriole, Porto, and Topolobampo.
Google's response
Kim reported all offending reviews to Google but received responses stating the reviews "didn't violate Google's policies" and would remain on the site. The reviews were finally removed weeks later — but only after significant media coverage in the Chicago Tribune.
The scam returned
Three years later, in late 2025, the same pattern resurfaced in Chicago with new targets — Alpana, SHO, Beity, Protein Bar & Kitchen. The scam had evolved: demands shifted from gift cards to direct payment via WhatsApp and Remitly, and the extortionists had become more sophisticated.
What this case reveals
The 2022 Chicago wave proved that review extortion isn't a one-off — it's a recurring, evolving business model. When Google initially refused to remove clearly fraudulent reviews, it sent a message to scammers worldwide: this works. Three years later, the industry is still catching up.