Google announced they are taking legal action against scammers who are targeting small companies by charging a fee to setup a free Google My Business listing page.
These scammers pretend to be representatives of Google and ask for money to create a Business Profile, which is a free service provided by Google that allows businesses to display pertinent details such as reviews, contact info, address, and images when they appear in search results and maps.
The fraud involves making telemarketing calls to small companies and trying to bill them for confirmation of their profile. It also has a website that markets counterfeit positive and negative evaluations to impact how businesses appear in search engine and maps results.
According to the announcement over 12 million attempts by malicious entities to fabricate Business Profiles have been recorded, and almost 8 million cases of attempted unauthorized ownership of Business Profiles have been noted.
Google says legal action is one part of it’s ongoing commitment to protect people, fight fraud, and do our part to stop malicious actors.
“This is important because scams disproportionately target individuals, small businesses and those without the resources to protect themselves. It’s key to establishing legal precedent for a safer web,” said Google
Setting up a Google My Business page is often included in fully featured digital marketing and search engine optimision service offered by legitimate agencies. It’s often regarded as a nessasry step to assist with increasing a companies digital reputation and visablity in the search engines. It shouldn’t be charged as a “Stand Alone” service.
The scammers are taking advantage of un-suspecting business owners and convincing them to hand over cash for a simple and free process that anyone with a computer can complete by themselves in around 10 to 15 minutes.
Helping Google Track Down The Scammers.
Google understands these types of calls can be bothersome. The search engine giant is committed to doing its part by trying to put a stop to these scam calls. However, this isn’t always within the search engines control; for example, many of these callers use untraceable phone numbers and other cloaking tactics.
You can help track calls that falsely associate themselves with Google via this webform and include the following information:
- The caller’s company and contact information.
- Emails or other documentation received from the caller as part of a follow-up.
- Any additional information about the phone call
If you or your business want to setup a Google My Business listing page you can simply follow these instructions
Recent studies found digital marketng and search optimisation scams are at an all time high and the value of digital advertising spend lost to fraud will reach $68 billion globally in by the end of 2022; rising from $59 billion in 2021.
The comprehensive research identified the top 5 countries most impacted by advertising fraud, which together account for 60% of global losses.
