An English tourist in Thailand was arrested for allegedly posting fake negative reviews about a Phuket restaurant after being refused entry when trying to use it as a shortcut to his home.
Named “Alexander,” he enlisted friends to flood the restaurant with one-star reviews, causing its rating to drop from 4.8 to 3.1 stars, resulting in the restaurant owner filing a complaint.
Alexander, facing legal proceedings in Phuket, was arrested for “entering false computer data likely to cause damage to the general public.”
The previous arrest of an American tourist in Phuket in 2020 for a negative TripAdvisor review, under the strict defamation laws in Thailand where defamation is a criminal offence punishable by up to two years in prison.
