For the past two years, Brad Nyberg and his wife have made photography their full-time jobs as they raise three children in their Robbinsdal...
For the past two years, Brad Nyberg and his wife have made photography their full-time jobs as they raise three children in their Robbinsdale home. They do some portrait sessions in their basement studio, but a majority of their work is shooting weddings.nn"It’s what puts food on the table," said Nyberg.nnHe is well aware of how important online reviews are to his business success, which is why a new scam has him worried. Several weeks ago, Nyberg received an email from a "reputation management" consultant warning him of an angry customer who was going to post negative reviews online. The "consultant" offered to mediate the situation if Nyberg paid him $299.nnFortunately, Nyberg recognized the scam and ignored it. But within days, the reviews popped up anyways.nnThe posts accused Brad and his wife, Renee, of showing up three hours late to a session and not delivering photos—accusations that Brad says are completely untrue.nn"You lose either way," he said.nnThey didn’t lose money to the scammers, but they are worried they will lose business from people scared away by the false reviews.nn"If the first thing that pops up is a negative review, we’ll never even know they left," said Nyberg. "They’ll just move right on to the next site. So they could destroy everything and we’d never even see it coming."nnDan Hendrickson with the Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota says this is a relatively new scam. He hadn’t heard of it in Minnesota before learning of Brad’s situation. While it so far is only targeting photographers, Hendrickson says all business owners should be on alert.nn"It sounds so far like it’s just hitting this one industry, but we’re pretty convinced it will jump over to other industries pretty quickly," said Hendrickson.nnHe recommends business owners set up a Google Alert system to track what is being posted online so they can react quickly.nNyberg took that advice and is now closely monitoring the internet for mentions of his name and photography business. He’s also trying to focus on the silver lining.nn"In a lot of ways, this has helped me out a bit because we hadn’t been focusing on our online presence so much," said Nyberg. "We didn’t worry about negative reviews. Now, every single day, we’re going out there, we’re checking."nnThe Better Business Bureau recommends business owners contact their offices, the Federal Trade Commission and local authorities if they believe they are a victim of this scam.nnTo visit Brad Nyberg’s website, click here.nnCassie Bonstromnhttp://twelve.tvnhttp://www.facebook.com/12localnewsnhttp://www.facebook.com/12localsportsnhttp://twitter.com/12sportsnhttp://twitter.com/12localnewsnnLearn about our mobile app - http://bit.ly/CH12appnnChannel 12 is on Comcast cable in the northwest suburbs of Minneapolis and includes the cities Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Crystal, Golden Valley, Maple Grove, New Hope, Osseo, Plymouth and Robbinsdale. Less
