Online reputation management has reached new lows with the introduction of “mug shot extortionists”. Essentially what these people do is find old mug shots from your past and post them on public sites and then extort money from you to take them down. Your reputation management is out of your hands at this point. For the sake of their online reputation management, many professionals choose to comply with the demands and then focus on rebuilding their presence online with their reputation management as a top priority.

When choosing an online reputation management firm to assist with your online reputation management, do your research on the company thoroughly beforehand. There have been instances where companies have reached out to online reputation management firms to assist them in their reputation management and the online reputation management firm has scammed them into thinking that they were being targeted online so the companies reaching out absolutely needed their help in resolving the issue. When in reality, the online reputation management firm was behind the negative feedback to entice companies to reach out for their reputation management services. The online reputation management firm would independently set up these fake accounts and post negative feedback, comments and blogs about the company they wished to target and then consequently create a business relationship with the company with the promise to solve their problems. Unknowingly, this innocent company seeking reputation management would be receiving “help” from the same company that created the disaster in the first place. ORM firms that plant fraudulent information are becoming more and more popular, especially between competing firms.

 Online reputation management has become crucial to reputation management. Ensure that you are not a victim of these crimes. And paying off these criminals is not the only solution. Pursue with legal action. Don’t be bullied into giving up your company’s integrity to such slander.