GMC hacked then suspended for Misrepresentation

Shopify Discussion
1

Hi All,

I have been in business and running google ads for 4 years until my account was hacked in December. I somehow recovered the account with support with a different username, ran the shopping ads for a week and then it was suspended for misrepresentation.

It has been 2 months I have been fixing everything that was broken after hacking ( feed, API source, products ) , and made more changes to the already " transparent " website, but my account remain suspended. There are no broken links, all info and policies are transparent, no fake promotions, got real reviews, and I have no duplicate accounts. Although I have a similar website for US, but the GMC for that is different and google support has confirmed that too.

I am using a 3 rd party API for my feed and there are no products that need attention. Support has also said my GMC is fine and the issue is possibly on the site. Pls see below

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Misrepresentation

-Prevents all products from showing in Australia

-During the review that you requested on 28 Jan 2026, Google found this still to be an issue. Before you request another review, make sure that you meet the requirements.

-Based on the information available about your business, there is reason to believe that customers are being misled on Google. Review the Misrepresentation policy and make changes to your Merchant Center and/or online shop.

-Make sure that your Merchant Center and online shop follow the following best practices/guidelines

  • Provide transparency about your business identity, business model, policies and how your customers can interact with you

  • Promote your online reputation by showing reviews or highlighting any badges or seals of approval

  • Use a professional design for your online shop that includes an SSL certificate

  • Provide information in the business information settings in your Merchant Center

  • Follow SEO guidelines, improve your eligibility for seller ratings and match your product data in your Merchant Center with your online shop

Google found this issue through a manual check. This suspension is based on robust signals from our manual and automated review systems. To maintain the integrity of our detection methods, we cannot discuss the specific signals that contributed to this decision.

We encourage you to conduct a comprehensive review of your website, business model, and all product listings for any potential violations.

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Could someone please look at the website and point me in the right direction ? Am a small business and this is my only source of income. I am getting great results with meta ads and used to get a ROAS of 5-6 x on Google too.

Thanks all. I am happy to pay if someone can guarantee a recovery.

Pallavi

5

Hi Pallavi, had a quick look at decormantra.com.au and your US sister site. Your storefront itself looks compliant — policies present, contact email on your domain, ABN visible, real reviews. So it’s probably not the basic stuff.

What stands out: your AU site says “Australian owned, ships from Queensland” but the linked thedecormantra.com FAQ says orders ship from Jacksonville, Florida. To Google Merchant Center reviewers comparing the two, that reads like two different stories under one brand, and it can trigger a misrepresentation suspension even though both are true. Make the relationship explicit on both sites — “AU orders ship from Australia, US orders ship from Florida” — so it’s impossible to misread.

Also mention the December hack explicitly in your next appeal with dates. Google’s systems sometimes read a username change as evasion.

If it helps, I built a free Shopify app for this — ShieldKit runs the 10 compliance checks Google reviewers actually use. Free scan, no credit card. https://apps.shopify.com/shieldkit

6

Thank you so much buddy. I ll run the free scan.

Support tells me to ensure I am not mimicking any other brand, reviews are verified and no misleading , high discounted promotions.

Now, I do have a sister US brand as you can see. My reviews are almost all verified , while some are from influencers who loved them. They do not say verified. Should I remove them ?

I also used a 3 rd party API app that was synching out of stock products to the feed. Am changing that too.

Also, are we not allowed to place high discounts on dead stock as a business ?

I have 15 days before my last review.

8

Our investigation identified a significant discrepancy between the information provided across your platforms. Specifically, there is a mismatch between the product data submitted in your feed, the structured data markup on your landing pages, and the information visible on your website.

Google support got back saying the following "It is essential that the information on the structured data, feed, and website are all matching to ensure a consistent customer experience. "

They earlier said the reviews look fraudulent. I gave them screenshots of judge.me . Then they said there was malicious code on the website. I shared screenshots of GSC .

This time also I shared screenhots of scheme, feed and website. They all match.

I dont know why the keep saying different things every time.

Could someone please help ? it has been 5 months.

9

Hi Pallavi,

You need a detailed scan of your store, its not just about reviews.

I already owned a store i.e. https://mobilecasez.com and faced this Misrepresentation issue last year and struggled for a month to fix that.
But finally I was able to fix that.

The problem with Misrepresentation issue is that no one tells you, how to fix it and what is the exact cause.

So, I thought that this can be a good opportunity to build an app and help users to fix their issues too.

So try with the app ShopFlix AI and let me know your thoughts and if you face any issues then let me know too.

10

Hey @pallavi0111 .

Hope you are doing great.

Your site looks legit and well-structured. But your footer shows a Victoria address, but mentions a Queensland warehouse.

That inconsistency is likely triggering Google’s misrepresentation flag. Make both addresses consistent across your site and GMC profile