A TripAdvisor troll has launched a malicious campaign against a popular Perthshire coffee shop.
The award-winning Habitat Caf in Aberfeldy retains an overwhelmingly good reputation despite a series of nasty one-star reviews all believed to have been written by the same person.
Scores of posts have appeared on the travel website in the last 20 months.
Posting under various fake names, the disgruntled critic has claimed the caf has gone out of business, made unfounded claims about bad service and has even threatened staff.
Despite pressure from caf owner Mike Haggerton, TripAdvisor has refused to disclose details of the anonymous poster but has agreed to take down some of his messages.
Mr Haggerton said he had considered legal action to force the multi-billion-dollar US organisation to reveal the troll’s identity but decided that it would be too expensive.
“He can do and say what he likes,” hesaid.“He is protected by the anonymity of the internet.I would have expected the law to have greater powers.”
He has also been in talks with police who have spoken to a local suspect a teenage ex-employee.
In an emotional plea to his tormentor, Mr Haggerton wrote online: “As a victim of your bullying I am begging you, man to man, please leave me, my family and my staff to get on with our lives.”
He told The Courier: “I don’t think that this is ever going to go away. We’ve tried everything.
“It’s clear that these reviews have been written by the same person. We have an idea who has been doing this but we’ve never named anyone.”
He said he called police after spotting comments which were particularly threatening.
One stated “for your own safety, you better comply” and another included the line “I’m taking matters into my own hands”.
Mr Haggerton said: “I was in work when I saw these messages. I went straight on the phone to my wife and told her to lock the door.”
He said he has suffered sleepless nights over the abuse and believes the posts have had an adverse impact on his business.
“I know that customers will read them and decide to stay away,” he said. “In a small place like Aberfeldy. Things like this can be very damaging.”
A local teenager, who has been accused of being behind the abuse, insisted he had nothing to do with it.
The Courier spoke to the 19-year-old, who worked at the caf for a short time last year and who said he had been quizzed about the posts by police.
“I have had absolutely nothing to do with any of this,” he said. “I am being victimised because people think it’s me.”
He said an apparently tell-tale text, suggesting that he had written the reviews, had been put on his phone by a jealous friend and was later seen by police.
A force spokeswoman said a teenager had been spoken to about the issue and had been given “suitable advice”.
TripAdvisor spokesman James Kay said: “Because of the system we have in place, in the last 12 months we have identified a number of reviews submitted for the Habitat Caf that did not meet our guidelines and we prevented those reviews from being published on TripAdvisor.
“In addition to our tracking system, we do allow property owners to report published reviews that they feel don’t meet our guidelines.
“Our content specialists investigate every report we receive, and if we find evidence that a review does not meet our guidelines we will take action.”
He added: “We are very confident in the systems and processes we have in place, and we remain committed to fighting fraud aggressively.”
Photo by Phil Hannah