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IEThe Irish Times

‘We can get rid of them for €3,000’: How small businesses are being targeted by fake reviews

For a wedding photographer, one negative review was all it took for couples to look elsewhere

By Paul Colgan
Open original article
Ledger record
#2838
First seen
26 Aug 2026, 05:13 UTC
Last checked
26 Aug 2026, 20:00 UTC
Version history
2 versions
Current fingerprint
3c8bcf4dabe7...cd51fd
01

Publisher layer

Recorded article metadata

Image URL supplied by The Irish Times.
Publisher
The Irish Times
Country
Ireland
Source published
26 Aug 2026, 05:00 UTC
Source updated
No update timestamp supplied
Byline
Paul Colgan
Section
Not supplied
Source-supplied excerpt
For a wedding photographer, one negative review was all it took for couples to look elsewhere
02

Change layer

Observed version timeline

  1. 2
    Revision observed

    ‘We can get rid of them for €3,000’: How small businesses are being targeted by fake reviews

    For a wedding photographer, one negative review was all it took for couples to look elsewhere

    Changed fieldstitle
    Version SHA-256
    3c8bcf4dabe7...cd51fd
    Capture SHA-256
    8d3f1deee2ee...29e84a
  2. 1
    Initial capture

    ‘Reviews are a big part of our industry’: How do Irish businesses handle fake one-star ratings?

    For a wedding photographer, one negative review was all it took for couples to look elsewhere

    Changed fieldstitlebylinedescriptionTextcontentTextsourcePublishedAtsourceUpdatedAtsectionimageUrltags
    Version SHA-256
    1a74e34e082d...05ac60
    Capture SHA-256
    064980fcc041...7f6e7b
03

Interpretation layer

Labels with declared origins

Not an adjudication.

Publisher categories are copied from source metadata. Machine signals report observable wording or format and do not determine truth, intent, ethics, or wrongdoing.

  • machine content-type Analysis or opinion observable-rules-v1 / 70% rule confidence
  • machine language-signal Investigation language observable-rules-v1 / 65% rule confidence
04

Public response layer

Reception snapshots

No reviewed reception capture yet.

Comment counts and samples remain absent until a lawful, source-specific capture method is reviewed. Absence is recorded instead of estimated.

05

Evidence layer

Capture provenance

Capture ID
#2682
Observed
26 Aug 2026, 07:59 UTC
HTTP result
200 / parsed
Raw payload
656,334 bytes, private gzip evidence
Collector
news-ledger/0.1
Public boundary
metadata and excerpt
Official source feedPublisher terms