As Chicago restaurants continue to try to pick up the pieces and move forward after more than two years of pandemic tumult, a frustrating new obstacle has emerged for hospitality operators: online hackers, some of whom seek to extract money from their targets. Sochi Saigonese Kitchen, the regional Vietnamese restaurant in Lakeview that was named to Michelin’s 2022 Bib Gourmand list, is the latest local spot to find itself caught in a virtual struggle.
Over the past 10 days, Sochi has been inundated with a series of one-star Google reviews which have driven down its overall ratings, according to an employee who posted in a private Facebook group for members of the Chicago hospitality industry. Last Wednesday morning, the employee writes, owners Chinh Pham and Son Do received an email from an individual claiming responsibility for the barrage of negative reviews and demanding a $75 Google Play gift card to stop the flood of bad ratings. “We sincerely apologize for our actions, and would not want to harm your business but we have no other choice,” the email, reviewed by Eater, reads. “The fact is that we live in India and see no other way to survive.” Pham and Do’s efforts to contact Google have thus far been unsuccessful.
Other members of this unhappy club of restaurant owners under digital siege include the Bien Trucha Group, owner of four restaurants in the western suburbs. In June, hackers used a phishing scam to access the group’s Facebook page,…
