Google is removing 10,000 fake business listings from Google Maps and is suing the fraudster network that created them, CBS News reports. The company’s lawsuit claims that a person connected to a wider network of fraudsters created fake business profiles on Google Maps and sold them for profit. Google was approached by Texas locksmiths who claimed that someone was impersonating them on Google Maps, which led to the lawsuit filed on Wednesday.
“Fraudsters are getting more and more sophisticated,” Halimah DeLaine Prado, Google’s general counsel, said on CBS Mornings Plus on Wednesday. “As soon as we become aware of a fraudulent activity, we go to extraordinary lengths to identify such fraudulent ads.”
Fraudsters can use Google Maps to trick people in a variety of ways. Victims may come across a fake ad that looks like a real one and call the number listed. Sometimes the scammer provides a service when the victim shows up at the location, but charges an additional fee. In other cases, the victim is directed to a call center where the scammers try to convince them to pay for something upfront, but do not actually provide the service. Fraudsters can use software to add positive reviews to fake ads; they can also increase the number of likes on fake Q&As by illegally contacting genuine ads to bring them to the top of search, a Reddit user discovered.
Google told CBS News that it will remove or block 12 million fake business profiles in 2023. The company also reported that the number of fake ads increases by one million every year. Google is also suspending companies that use fake engagement tactics and artificial reviews to boost their rankings. And in the UK, Google has imposed restrictions on companies engaged in misleading reviews after regulators began demanding action.
