Fake reviews on multiple apps

Hi!
I’m writing here as I’ve tried everything by now to get these fake reviews removed, all to no avail. Shopify staff just view my messages on twitter and don’t answer, partner support says they’ll take care of it and close the ticket, nobody wants to help - all while my app’s installs plummet.

For the last few days I’ve become a victim of numerous fake 1-star reviews on my app (3 by now), along with many other devs. These reviews are left by stores who install the app without activating a plan or even opening it (no auth token). They use fake phone numbers like “1234567890”, have an unedited theme, close a few days after leaving the review, leave 1-star reviews for multiple apps in single day - just to name a few.

After talking to a few people with a few people with the same issue, it seems like this people want me contact them and pay around $25-$100 per removed review - is this really what I’m gonna have to do?

Some of the affected apps:
SMART Checkout Rules - Seamlessly customize your checkout with powerful custom rules | Shopify App Store (my app)

I cannot post more than 5 links so here are the paths to the other affected apps:
/checkout-buddy
/checkout-rules
/checkout-controller-1 (5>4.2 rating, about to lose BFS)
/upsellpluscheckout
/amp-personalization-engine (2 of the stores which have targeted me hit this app as well)

Stores which have personally attacked me around the same time:

…and one from a few months ago on the same app, left 10 reviews in the same day and closed their store 2 days later: Adorn&Amuse Re… | AppNavigator

I’m just hopeless at this point. My options are to either pay a ransom or let my app die. Why can’t Shopify help me? Why does nobody care?

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