Groupon sales rep threatens restaurant with negative Yelp reviews

I don't think Andy has a bright future in sales

http://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=hnH6RaPkJ2Tfw9ZkKMfL... see how many bad reviews he already wrote for Sause! I think his profile should be flagged, you can't trust a person who does this kind of things.

Edit: He just changed his name to West C. what a guy :)

Another Edit: Just look at his reviews date - they all are written on July 29-30 - why would anybody write so many reviews unless you receive a commission to do so?

Isn't this a protection-money racket (extortion) from a legal perspective?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extortion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_racket

> "Extortion is a criminal offense of unlawfully obtaining money, property, or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion."

> "In the United States, extortion may also be committed as a federal crime across a computer system, phone, by mail or in using any instrument of interstate commerce."

http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/business-career/legal/what-...

> "What is Extortion? The use of threats to extract money from people is a crime in the United States..."

> "Which Kinds of Threats are Illegal? One common characteristic of extortion is the use of threats, that is, an express intention to inflict injury, loss, or some other bad consequence on another person. The threat has to be sufficiently plausible and imminent that it could convince a reasonable person to give in to the blackmailer’s demands. In addition, there has to be some evidence that the threat was actually made for the purpose of obtaining money or property."

http://www.orbankruptcy.com/newsletters/criminal-law/federal...

> "A person commits the federal offense of extortion if he or she transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any demand or request for ransom or for a reward for the release of a kidnapped person, any threat to kidnap or injure another person, or any threat to injure the property or reputation of another person or to accuse another person of a crime with the intent to extort."

Now that one specifically mentions that threats to injure persons, property or reputation qualify as extortion when done to get money from someone.

Here is the actual federal law:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/875

> "Whoever, with intent to extort from any person, firm, association, or corporation, any money or other thing of value, transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any threat to injure the property or reputation of the addressee or of another or the reputation of a deceased person or any threat to accuse the addressee or any other person of a crime, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both."

It seems very clear that that is what has happened here.

But if this form of threat by a Groupon employee to extract money from people is not extortion, what is the subtle difference that would enable such threats to be considered non-criminal?

Sounds like one of those game theory side effects. If you pay and measure people by targets then expect them to use dubious techniques to win the game.

Doesn't USA have any DoNotCall rules with some teeth, if, as the owner is saying, he "... asked you twice to remove me from you call list, as I have EVERY time I have been called by a representative from Groupon"?

In my place, this would mean that their customer acquisition costs would skyrocket from fines for such incidents.