Google says it uncovered thousands of illegitimate listings, including for fake businesses, on Google Maps and has announced a lawsuit against the alleged scammers behind the fraud.
The lawsuit, announced Wednesday, claims a man working within a wider network, created and sold fake business profiles on Google Maps.
An initial alert came from a Texas business that flagged an unlicensed locksmith impersonating them on Google Maps. That was just the tip of the iceberg.
The claim sparked an investigation that led Google to uncover and eliminate more than 10,000 illegitimate listings, the company said. The scams ranged from outright fake businesses to legitimate accounts that had been hacked or hijacked.
“Once we’re alerted to the actual fraud, we take extreme efforts to identify similar fraudulent listings,” Halimah DeLaine Prado, Google’s general counsel, said on “CBS Mornings Plus” Wednesday.
Google found many of the scams were concentrated in what they call “duress verticals” – services people need in urgent or stressful situations, like locksmiths or towing companies.
“Scammers are becoming increasingly sophisticated,” DeLaine Prado said.
Google’s investigation also uncovered that these alleged scammers aren’t working alone. They collaborate with agents around the world and leverage social media to increase their reach. One example in the lawsuit shows an alleged scammer posted in multiple Facebook groups to advertise “5 star reviews” that can bypass Google’s guidelines.
How the alleged scammers operate
DeLaine Prado listed several distinctive tactics the Google Maps’ scammers used.
First, the bait and switch. This is when someone searches for a local service but instead of reaching a licensed professional, they fall for a fake listing.
Other times, consumers call a real company but that number is intercepted and routed through a “lead generation service,” which sends the call to the scammers.
Either way, the consumer gets connected with a completely different company than the one they thought they were reaching out to.
Then, the scam service arrives and often demands a significantly higher price than the original quote. Google says because the scam targets people in “duress verticals” the customer is typically in a vulnerable situation, which these bad actors exploit.
How to protect yourself
As always, if something seems off, stop what you’re doing and try to verify the legitimacy of the company.
“Pause, take a moment,” DeLaine Prado advised. She said users should check the company’s URL and phone number to make sure they match the business as advertised.
Another red flag to beware of is if the company asks for more information than necessary, like your social security number just to join a mailing list.
DeLaine Prado also warned consumers to be on alert if they’re being asked to pay for services in an unconventional way like paying through gift cards or a wire transfer.
How Google says it’s protecting users
Fake business listings are prohibited on Google Maps and the company says it uses a range of tools, from automated programming to analysts, to identify fraud on the platform.
“Online business profiles are incredibly valuable to businesses, as well as consumers,” DeLaine Prado said. “Small and medium businesses use those listings for ‘word of mouth,’ discoverability.”
But it’s not just listings. Google’s lawsuit also outlines how the network of alleged scammers sold fraudulent positive reviews to businesses as a way to suppress real, bad reviews on the platform.
“Consumers use the reviews under those listings to actually make decisions based on what service to use or not to use,” DeLaine Prado said. “A fake profile and a fake review undermines the trust that you have in that ecosystem.”
This lawsuit is not Google’s first swipe at scammers. The company told CBS News it removed or blocked about 12 million fake business profiles in 2023, about a million more than in the year prior.
Google told CBS News it plans to donate any damages it wins in this case to organizations working to fight scams.
