A British man was recently arrested in Thailand for allegedly damaging the reputation of a Phuket restaurant by posting multiple 1-star reviews online following a dispute with the restaurant owner.
The 21-year-old, identified only as Alexander, was apprehended in Bangkok earlier this month, but the incident that led to his arrest occurred in 2022 while he was staying in a rented property in Phuket. Thai media reports that Alexander frequently took a shortcut through an Italian restaurant to reach his accommodation. The restaurant owner, noticing his repeated trespassing, confronted him and requested that he use the public road instead, as he was not a paying customer and was disturbing guests.
Following this confrontation, the restaurant's Google rating plummeted from 4.8/5 to 3.1/5, driven by a surge of allegedly fake 1-star reviews. Suspecting Alexander was behind the negative reviews, the owner filed a complaint against him, leading to his eventual arrest.
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