How are companies hiding a review (fake removal) from public eye?

So all throughout Google search results, social media (ig), or various forums, you see people advertising "remove google reviews" - Out of random curiosity, I had them 'remove' a review of mine (https://maps.app.goo.gl/aYnXjTHqqHBzLGer5) . If clicked, it says review doesnt exist... However, I wanted to know more - so since this is my account, I went to >my contributions and the review remains. Now the company expects to be paid. This tells me that (1) the review was never really removed/deleted, instead it was temporarily hidden/shadow banned somehow. So I would assume all the people in the bst section are being scammed once google stops shadow banning the reviews.

I assume mass-reporting didn't do this. Anyone have any idea on how companies are offering a removal service and doing this?

That's an interesting observation. A review disappearing from public view doesn't necessarily mean it has been permanently removed. Google can filter reviews or restrict their visibility, and the reviewer's contribution history may not always reflect what other users can see.

I think it's important to distinguish between legitimate policy-based removal and temporary visibility issues. Do you know whether the review is still visible to other users when they open the business profile?

I decided to test this theory, I honestly think all the people buying removals on social media, the BST sections, google search results are all screwed once it gets reversed. I tested this because I had bought a large number of removals a while back, and almost all of those reviews came back (older than 30 days old - same method).

So yeah I had posted a negative review myself, then paid someone to remove it - they did... But it wasn't a policy based (real) removal. Infact the review still exists. If I login to Google, and check the link myself, it's up. If you, or I use any virtual machine to check the link, it says the reviews not available... So all these people selling this service, are only temporarily hiding the reviews. They're not real removals. Just an interesting observation I think. Would be interesting to know how they're doing it, I'm sure its not mass-reporting.

Companies often employ several methods to conceal reviews, such as: leveraging the "Report/Flag" feature provided by the platforms themselves; hiring "black market" services that specialize in removing reviews (operating through anonymous, quasi-legal channels); and exploiting automated algorithms to "freeze" or restrict the visibility of such reviews.