A Brit faces the next two years behind bars after he was arrested for allegedly writing fake one-star reviews for a restaurant in Thailand.

The man, identified only as Alexander, was arrested at his Bangkok address earlier this month after a reputed disagreement with the owners of an Italian restaurant on the island of Phuket.

Alexander had wanted to use the Italian restaurant as a convenient gateway to his condominium on Phuket in 2022. The restaurant owner did not agree, saying that the 21-year-old was barred from using his business as a shortcut as he was not a paying customer.

As revenge, Alexander is said to have enlisted his friends' help in flooding the restaurant with negative reviews, plunging its rating from 4.8 to 3.1 out of 5 stars.

The owner filed a complaint with the Sakhu Police Station claiming the fake reviews had caused damage to the restaurant's finances and reputation and officers from Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau arrested Alexander at his new apartment in Bangkok on May 9.

The warrant issued for Alexander’s arrest dates from August 2023 and says he is suspected of “entering false computer data likely to cause damage to the general public”, as per The Mirror.

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Defamation is a criminal offence in Thailand and carries a punishment of up to two years in prison.

Police Major Jomparit Kaewreung of the Crime Suppression Division said: “The suspect was handed over to the inquiry officer of Sakhu Police Station for further legal action.

"During the interrogation, he has denied the charges.”

Alexander has been taken back to the Sakhu Police Station in Phuket.