There is a new scam brewing around Google Maps reviews. Mike covered it well at his blog, but I was also planning on writing it this morning, so why not.

A WebmasterWorld thread and Google Places Help thread (didn’t know about the Google thread, thanks Mike!) all discuss this scam.

In short, there are people leaving negative reviews on your map listings. Then shortly after, they are emailing you and offering to remove the negative reviews for a fee. On the other hand, there are people offering this as a service, add negative reviews to your competitors for a fee.

A senior WebmasterWorld member, said:

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Google Places Help.