Boss uses employee's email to write a fake review for his business, employee finds out: 'This is really shady'

Author image for JR Atkinson
JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Jun 15, 2025 10:00 AM EDT

Reviews are so important to the ecosystem of small businesses. It's how so many of us decide which places we're going to patronize. If something has a bunch of negative reviews, we're probably less likely to go, especially if there are higher-rated options nearby. But the review game is a tricky one. You hope that your work is good enough to warrant a bunch of organic positive reviews, but it can be hard if there is no incentive. Sure, there might be career reviewers who will slap a star rating on anything they come across, but that's not most people. 

So sometimes business owners have to get creative in thinking of ways to generate good reviews. They might also have a tactic to try and stop, or at least explain bad reviews. Often businesses will respond to negative feedback to try and squash whatever beef might be bubbling up. All to say it's a complicated issue.

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  • 01

    My boss posted a review of his company using my work email.

    When I arrived at work yesterday, I noticed an email that stated an owner responded to a review I had posted. It turned out, my boss posted a fake review using my work email. This company has a lot of negative reviews. Some
    via u/FrontGirlMaine
  • 02
    Cheezburger Image 10516750848
    via Vitaly Gariev

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • That said, there are a few things as a business owner you should never do, lest you lose the trust of your customers. Faking reviews is one of them. If you find out a place is faking reviews, then you might wonder if there's something they're trying to hide. That's what happened in this story. 

  • 03
    warranted, some not. This is really shady. I mentioned it to another coworker and she looked for the post and it was there with my name and work email. With the response from the boss. The clincher, if he had done this on Saturday, I might never have seen it. I'm going to contact Google to see if it can be removed. I'm really upset about this and this confirms that I made the correct decision to leave.
    via u/FrontGirlMaine
  • 04

    Commenters questioned what kind of business would do this.

    very-square • 6d ago This is just a whole lot of . You're likely doing or have done all these things. Document the review, contact Google and tell them your account was compromised (by your
    via u/very-square
  • 05
    boss), notify HR that your email account was used without your consent (doesn't seem like you could reasonably escalate to your boss), add 2FA to your account, keep everything professional and get out of there.
    via u/very-square
  • 06
    FrontGirlMaine OP. 6d ago To add: It's a small company. Boss is owner. Wife is HR. They set up email in my name for work purposes. I have forwarded the info to my personal account. I will contact Google as soon as my last check clears.
    via u/FrontGirlMaine
  • 07
    mathew6987 · 6d ago reply to the review as yourself and let people know he wrote it not you.
    via u/mathew6987
  • 08
    syllo-dot-xyz. 5d ago Do not say he wrote it, Just clear up that you DIDN'T write it. People will know what's going on, no need to put allegations in public before legal processes.
    via u/syllo-dot-xyz
  • 09
    Glittering-Salary488 • 5d ago Especially if OP doesn't have evidence that boss did it. Has that been shared?
    via u/Glittering-Salary488
  • 10
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    via henry perks

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 11
    AnonBazillion • 4d ago "Wife is HR." That's not a conflict of interest at all.
    via u/AnonBazillion
  • 12
    FrontGirlMaine OP 4d ago • It's a really small 'family owned' business. It's not unusual for family members to have those responsibilities.
    via u/FrontGirlMaine
  • 13
    AnonBazillion • 4d ago I would be so reluctant to go to HR and say, "Hello, I have a complaint about your husband." It would prevent me going to HR, although to be fair Reddit has taught me HR isn't your friend in the first place. What your boss did was egregious enough, but he also used your name. Please tell me it wasn't your full name.
    via u/AnonBazillion
  • 14
    syllo-dot-xyz . 2d ago Makes no difference, people lie and create elaborate hoaxes to bait and throw others under the bus. My old boss used to "borrow" junior laptops and defraud other agents in the market using junior staff accounts, who would then get fired a few months later (and lose all the commission-payouts the company rinsed from them), they paid me off and made it clear I'd lose my job if I alerted the authorities/shareholder, f these weirdo bosses.
    via u/syllo-dot-xyz
  • 15
    Mephos760 3d ago I worked in place like that, like 7 people and 4 were related. At 90 day review HR/mother asked if I had any issues, and the real answer was yeah its the dude you woke up with who hired me as a PM and getting on my a for not nickel and diming every client.
    via u/Mephos760
  • 16
    tikisummer • 6d ago . Yea, they own your email, still a foolish thing to overlook.
    via u/tikisummer
  • 17
    LutschiPutschi • 5d ago If he wrote it from your email address, can you log into your Google account and delete the review yourself?
    via u/LutschiPutschi
  • 18
    jasbflower 6d ago How is it your boss had your email and was able to log into it?
    via u/jasbflower
  • 19
    ignbear 6d ago • Something kind of similar happened to me except they expected me to be the one writing the review. I had a couple of Gmail accounts I had to make for other business reasons that they wanted me to use to make fake Indeed reviews pretending to be fake employees. I left that job ASAP
    via u/ignbear
  • 20
    . phantomsoul11 • 5d ago Not cool. This is the kind of place that would probably tolerate all kinds of retaliation. Make yourself an exit plan, telling no one you don't trust and defer reporting anything to anyone until you've exited past their retaliatory reach. Good luck!
    via u/phantomsoul11
  • 21
    Bighairyaussiebear • 5d ago Honestly, I'd just make a fake google account and write a negative review about his business lol
    via u/Bighairyaussiebear
  • 22
    FrontGirlMaine OP · 5d ago Thank you for your input. Today is my last day. No wonder so many have been in the position I was in. Good luck to my future replacements.
    via u/FrontGirlMaine
  • 23
    Salt Acceptable9901 · 3d ago . If you're in Australia, this is illegal, and the ACCC takes a very dim view of misleading consumers.
    via u/SaltAcceptable9901
  • 24
    FrontGirlMaine OP.15h ago No. I'm in the US. I'll have to look. I've left the company and started a new job. I need to deal with this now.
    via u/FrontGirlMaine

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boss antiwork workplace-stories toxic-workplace job bosses work coworkers working reddit story toxic-boss workplace reddit thread bad bosses Reddit toxic-work-environment
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